Tense night job for Gertzen – Liebherr mobile cranes fit out luxury liner at Papenburger Meyer shipyard

The boom in demand for cruises shows no sign of waning which has led to new ships being built at an unprecedented rate. That in turn means that the largest covered shipbuilding dock in the world at Papenburger Meyer, measuring 504 metres long and 75 metres high, is no longer big enough for installing the casings on the funnels of modern luxury liners.

This job was done by two Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 mobile cranes at the fitting-out quay operated by the shipbuilding yard after the liner had been moved out of the dock. Strong gusts of wind initially delayed the extremely tight schedule. The giant of the seas, measuring 350 metres in length, had to be pulled by powerful tugs against the wind after it had left its shipbuilding dock. The long-winded manoeuvring of the new vessel was watched by hundreds of spectators from the edge of the shipbuilding yard's site and lasted well into the night.

At around three in the morning the Gertzen team finally managed to secure the cross beam to the massive funnel casing. After raising it from the ground, the crane drivers had to thread the 26 metre long and 18 metre high construction extremely carefully through the luffing jibs before finally swinging the load over the cruise ship. With a radius of 34 metres, the 42-tonne casing was placed over the funnel from a hook height of 74 metres.

On the next day the "North Star" viewing gondola was a much heavier load altogether. The attraction comprising a crane arm and a gondola which enables passengers to be hoisted to a height of 90 metres above sea level weighs in at 110 tonnes. The Gertzen mobile crane had to handle the larger load of 65 tonnes and was therefore also fitted with telescopic guying to increase its load capacity.

The "Anthem of the Seas" has been sailing under the flag of a US cruise company since the end of April. It can accommodate 4,180 passengers and is manned by a crew of 1,550.