ZPMC's new goliath stands tall at Rosyth

3 March 2011

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Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery, Chinese heavy industry manufacturer, has delivered a goliath gantry crane, to the Firth of Forth in Rosyth, Scotland.

The new crane, with a height of 68m to the bottom of the beams and a lifting capacity of 1,000t, will be used for the assembly of the aircraft carriers belonging to the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class in Rosyth Dockyard.

Babcock, a British engineering support firm, project-managed the $20m project and oversaw delivery after a 14,000 nautical mile sea voyage from Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery in China.

Lloyds Register Asia, IMES, Oceaneering and Bureau Veritas China had a hand in the project.

Before the crane was transported, rails had been pre-assembled on a foundation consisting of concrete foundation beams and 380 piles that reach into bedrock.

The girder and topmost sections of the legs were also pre-assembled. The crane will be completely erected on the ship in six weeks, before it is winched onto the rails.

Sean Donaldson, aircraft construction project director for Babcock, said, “After watching the Goliath crane being fabricated, it will be fantastic to see it arrive in the Firth of Forth and welcome it to its new home in Rosyth. The Goliath crane is an essential element in Babcock’s commitment to completing the assembly of the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales.”

The crane will undergo testing for four months before its handover to Aircraft Carrier Alliance Programme in the summer. It is scheduled to begin working in September of this year.