ALE has reached the next project milestone and transported the partly completed RRS Sir David Attenborough, the new polar research ship for Britain.
The ship, weighing 5,000t, was moved from the fabrication hall 41m to the slipway at Cammell Laird’s shipyard in Birkenhead.
In order to transport such a large and heavy piece, ALE utilised 216 axle lines of SPMT and 26 transport beams. The ship was moved so the client could continue construction of the bow.
Scott Fenwick, Project Engineer for ALE said: “We extremely proud to be so involved in such a landmark project, completing the engineering and execution of heavy transportation and load-out scopes of work.
We have found the best solution possible at each stage; designing bespoke transport frames and utilizing transport beams to avoid welding to the vessel – which is costly and time consuming.”
ALE previously loaded-out and loaded-in the AFT section of the ship in August 2017.
The new ship has been commissioned by NERC, designed by Rolls-Royce, built by Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd and is a major UK Government investment in frontier science.
The vessel will be operated by British Antarctic Survey when the ship enters service in 2019. Above: Photograph of the ship being transported in Birkenhead, UK.
