Cranes arrive down the Manchester Ship Canal
Activity on the Mersey Gateway Project ramped up this week with the arrival of two large cranes to Wigg Island in Runcorn.
The crane components were transported down the Manchester Ship Canal
The cranes, which measure 47 metres high and weigh 137 tonnes when fully assembled, were transported by barge up the Manchester ship canal from the Liverpool Docks. They will be used to build a temporary trestle bridge across the river, which will provide construction workers access to the estuary so they can start work on building the new bridge.
The cranes were unloaded at Wigg Island
Stephen Cardwell, Project Director for the Merseylink Construction Joint Venture said: “Being able to use a historic local waterway to transport our construction equipment has been of great benefit to both the project and the community. We have been able to use a sustainable transport method, which in turn, has reduced the need for large slow moving equipment on the local roads. This forms part of our overall mixed transport strategy and we will be using the waterways to transport more materials in the future.”
The assembled cranes will be used to build a temporary bridge across the river to allow workers to build the new Mersey Gateway bridge
