Grove Cranes Pitch in to Lift Viking Ship

Enlarge Image Grove all-terrain cranes help lift a Viking ship for placement in an Irish museum.

November 7, 2007 • Crane rental company Meade Crane Services completed a delicate and prestigious lift using two Grove all-terrain cranes in Dublin, Ireland. The project involved positioning the world's largest Viking ship in the National Museum of Ireland Collins Barracks for an exhibition. Meade Crane Services handled all the lifting work, while sister company Sean Meade & Sons carried out the transportation work.

The Viking ship is the Sea Stallion from Glendalough, Ireland, a replica of a 98-foot-long Viking ship built in Dublin around 1042. After the replica ship was constructed, it was transported to Roskilde, Denmark, and then sailed back to Ireland to recreate a famous voyage made by the Vikings. Given the size of the ship, its historical significance and high profile status, Meade Crane Services knew this would be a challenging project.

 

Fergus Meade, director of Meade Crane Services, said control was a key factor. “The lift and move required a high level of control and great precision,” he said. “We needed reliable machines with smooth movement and close control, which is why we opted for our GMK5130 and GMK6300 cranes.”

 

The lift was watched by hundreds of people who gathered at Hanover Quay in Dublin to welcome the Stallion. The event attracted much media attention and the BBC's Timewatch show and other media outlets around the world followed the construction of the Stallion and its voyage to Dublin.

 

Careful planning and execution were important to the success of the project, with so much attention on the day of the lift. In total, three lifts were made by Meade to get the Stallion to its final resting point.

Enlarge Image Three lifts were required to get the ship to the courtyard, where it will be on show until mid-2008.

The first project was to remove ballast and masts prior to lifting the boat out of the water. For this, Meade sent its GMK5130, rigged with 166 feet of main boom and 25.9 tons of counterweight. With the ballasts and masts removed, the ship was lifted out of the water allowing the crew to clean it by vacuuming out excess water. The ship weighed 15.4 tons on exiting the water, but once cleaned the weight dropped to 14.3 tons. The Stallion was then lifted on to a low-loader trailer, ready for transport.

 

To move the ship to Collins Barracks, home of the museum, Sean Meade & Sons had to wait until 11 p.m. to avoid traffic congestion. After 30 minutes travel, the load arrived at Croppie Arce • the next lifting point • in front of Collins Barracks. Because the gates at Croppie Arce were not big enough for the Stallion to drive through, the GMK5130 lifted it off the road and into Croppie Arce's compound for reloading onto the trailer. The crane had 44 tons of counterweight and 150 feet of boom for this lift.

 

Once back on the trailer, the boat was maneuvered to the end of Croppie Arce and lifted into Collins Barracks with the help of a 220-ton crane. Though the ship was now inside Collins Barracks, it needed to get to the courtyard where it would eventually be on show. This courtyard was surrounded by buildings on all sides, so the Stallion had to be lifted up and over into the courtyard.  

 

For this lift Meade chose a GMK6300, with 110 tons of counterweight and more than 75 feet of main boom and almost 148 feet of luffing jib. It then hoisted the ship high over the surrounding buildings and safely into the courtyard.

 

The Sea Stallion from Glendalough will be on display at the Museum of Ireland until the middle of 2008.