11.11.2008

Crane carnage in Odense

A massive gantry crane at the Odense shipyard in Denmark ran away in strong winds on Sunday, smashing into two other cranes.

The 1,000 tonne capacity crane was caught by strong gusts on Sunday afternoon causing it to start running out of control down its tracks. The crane’s brakes simply could not cope with the wind and the momentum it had gathered.

It came to a rest after around 300 metres, but slammed into two of the Shipyard’s 100 tonne articulated boom cranes on the way sending one to the bottom of the dry dock. The other is also badly damaged.
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A photo of the shipyard in less windy times, the gantry crane is in the right foreground

Fortunately there were no injuries as the dock was largely empty following the completion of the shipyards latest vessel on Friday.

The management has closed the Shipyard temporarily for safety reasons.
The yard is owned by AP Moller Maersk, the gantry crane is approved to operate in wind speeds up to 22 metres a second and resist winds of up to 250 km/h.