Heavy Lift

EP1: Ship lifting ship: Semisubmersible: These amazing ships are built to carry floating objects further than they could travel under their own power – damaged ships, oil platforms, massive loads that simply can’t be loaded on to conventional ships. They are among the largest ships in the world.

EP2: Ring Crane: The ring crane is a transportable crane that operates in small spaces but with an extremely long reach, ideal for ports where the space is limited but the need for extension is great. Many of these massive cranes come in containers and can be built on site and the empty containers are then used as a counter weight.

EP3: The Walls of Venice: Although dogged by controversy, the Mose, a system of mobile walls that emerge when the sea is about to submerge the city of Venice, is nearing completion. Each barrier weighs 40 tonnes and needs to be attached to a complex system of levers and hinges. The logistics of moving the barriers is a nightmare, as they come in from the work sites and are laid on top of the concrete emplacements. It is a race against time, to save the city from the winter high tides.

EP4: The Arch of Chernobyl: Subject of a BBC documentary, the new sarcophagus of Chernobyl was completed at the end of 2017. Two French companies won the contract financed by the European Bank of Reconstruction to seal o the deteriorating mountain of cement that had been poured over the second reactor of the Chernobyl plant in 1989.

EP5: Ariane 5: Ariane 5 is the largest rocket in operation today. It carries the heaviest loads of any rockets of the present or past and at nearly 60 meters height, is also the tallest. It is the heavy lift workhorse of space and is built in France under the direction of the Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse.