Dragados via DSB Offshore contracted barge Giant 4 and her sister the Giant 3 for the transport of 49 bridge span sections for the Oresund, the link between Denmark – Copenhagen and Sweden – Malmo. In total 25 voyages in 22 months between Cadiz; Spain and Malmo, Sweden were made. Bridge span sections of 120m and 140m in length with weights of 4,700 tons and 5,200 tons.
Some figures: total steel weights 66,182 tons; total concrete weights 157,304 tons in total transport weight 223,486 tons. In total 5 tugs have towed the Giant 4 and Giant 3 up and down from Cadiz to Malmo. The tugs involved Sumatras, Suhaili, Simoon and Solano from International Transport Contractors – Haarlem; Netherlands and the Anglian Duke from Klyne Tugs, Lowestoft, UK. The total distance made with the pontoons was 97,413 miles, that will say 2.5 times around the world!
Photos by Maarten Versluis and Hans Van der Ster.