A giant crane that will be used during the multi-million-pound work on two Royal Navy aircraft carriers is expected to be transported up the Firth of Forth to Rosyth dockyard later this month.
Babcock International Group is seeking planning permission from Fife Council as it has increased the size of the Goliath crane, understood to cost in the region of £15 million, from its proposed 71-metre height.
Babcock has submitted a change of use planning application for the building of a “heavy duty Goliath crane with a 1000-tonne lifting capacity.”
Once in place, the Goliath crane will dominate the south-west Fife coastline as it straddles the dock at Rosyth.
The number one dock at Rosyth, built in 1916, is believed to be one of the most suitable locations for building the carriers. The Rosyth dockyard contains the biggest non-tidal basin for ship repair in the UK.
Babcock has increased the capacity of the number one dock, along with widening the entrance to allow entry of the parts and departure of the 56-metre tall carriers.
It has been estimated that around 1000 people will work on the Ministry of Defence’s £5.2 billion contract to build the Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales at Rosyth.
There was relief for Rosyth workers in October, when the UK Government’s strategic defence review resulted in the contracts remaining at west Fife and Faslane on the Clyde.
There are around 1500 employees at the Rosyth dockyards, including 174 apprenticesModificationsFife Council granted planning permission for the crane in March 2007, but Babcock submitted a fresh application due to modifications to the crane’s size.
Its height has increased, but both the span of the crane and its operating envelope have been reduced.
Yesterday, David McGinley, business development director with Babcock Marine, explained the reasoning behind the latest planning application to Fife Council.
“The infrastructure at Rosyth Dockyard is being upgraded to accommodate the assembly of the new aircraft carriers,” he said. “This work involves the installation of a heavy duty goliath crane at number one dock.
“An initial planning application was submitted to Fife Council and approved in full in 2007. A further planning application has been submitted to Fife Council to take account of revisions to the crane design.
“It is an organic proposal to take into account the size of this work.”
He added, “The crane is scheduled to arrive at Rosyth later this month and will be erected over the dock in April.”
Prime Minister David Cameron has recently warned that cancelling one of the Royal Navy’s planned new aircraft carriers would have cost as much as going ahead with both vessels.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user donnamarinje.