Felbermayr prepares to open the flood gate

In goes the first half of the new lock gate. Photo: Felbermayr/Markus Weickinger

Lifting, transport and specialist contractor Felbermayr used several cranes to lift, move, assemble and install a large new lock gate at a port in Austria.

Inauguration of the new Port of Linz flood protection system took place on 2 July. It was just four months after Felbermayr installed the new gate at the commercial port.

The new system is part of Linz AG’s Safe Port of Linz project to provide flood protection from the River Danube. Felbermayr Transport and Lifting Technology and Hydraulic Engineering were commissioned by Austrian industrial technology and equipment group Andritz for the heavy logistics and to lift the two steel gate elements on the construction site.

Two of Felbermayr’s Liebherr cranes tilt up the lock gate parts so they are standing, ready for final transport and installation

The two large box-like steel plate box sections of the new lock gate, weighing a total of 200 tonnes, were fabricated in Turkey and shipped, laid horizontally and in two parts, to Austria. The River Danube ship arrived at the heavy goods harbour in Linz a day late which added time pressure to the project.

The two parts were unloaded at the Felbermayr heavy lift terminal in the heavy goods harbour of Linz during the night of 8 January.

“Alongside the 400 tonne gantry crane, two mobile cranes with maximum lifting capacities of 150 and 160 tonnes were also deployed,” explained Michael Maier-Bauer, project manager at Felbermayr Transport and Lifting Technology Linz.

These wheeled mobile telescopic cranes for the first part of the job were a Liebherr LTM 1150-5.3 and an LTM 1160-5.2 from the Felbermayr fleet. They were used to rotate each lock gate section, in turn, from lying flat to standing up.

Using the port’s 400 tonne gantry crane both parts of the harbour gate, now the right way up, were loaded onto a barge, to be moved by the Grafenau, a tug boat. They were then transported about 5 kilometres from the heavy goods harbour to the construction site in the commercial port.

The highlight of the assignment, Felbermayer said, was the hoisting of the new harbour gate into the harbour gate chamber at the entrance to the commercial port of Linz using a 650 tonne capacity LTM 1650-8.1 wheeled mobile telescopic crane. Configured on main boom only the crane reached a maximum radius of 18 metres and was loaded with 135 tonnes of ballast.

Tug Grafenau preparing to leave Relbermayr’s heavy lift terminal with the two uprighted gate sections

Playing to an audience

Lifting the two parts from the ship into the gate chamber, one after the other, took place in front of watching crowds. The lower part of the harbour gate was 27.70 metres long, 2.60 metres wide and 5.30 metres high. With that in place the upper section was lifted in. It was 35.7 metres long, 2.3 metres wide and 4.9 metres high.

“It was an interesting, unusual project. On top of the time pressure posed by the delay and the extreme weather conditions, the nature of the components also presented a challenge,” explained Maier-Bauer:

“Their centre of gravity was not favourable. In other words, they had to be attached with centimetre precision so as to guarantee that they could be lifted vertically into the gate chamber during installation.”

After positioning the second section the two were welded together. The sliding gate gives a clear passage width of 26 metres.

This new harbour gate system is to help protect more than 560 hectares of industrial land, right up to the centre of Linz. It will also allow trans-shipping, storage and transport activities to continue even during flooding.