Hydraulic Crane

A rotary crane.
The hydraulic crane around 1980
©Prof. Dr. Lars U. Scholl, German Maritime Museum Archives
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The hydraulic crane, situated on the western pier of Kaiserhafen I, was manufactured and delivered to the port authorities of Bremerhaven in 1899 by the Berlin engineering company Carl Hoppe, a notable conveyor supplier. At first, the crane had a lifting capacity of 30 tons and a working radius of 16.5 metres. But the hydraulic propulsion had an important critical weak point. Due to the severe winters in Germany, the pipe systems were prone to freezing and so the crane was seldom used, but converted to the more suitable electric mode in the 1950s. In 1976, it saw its last commercial operation. Decay followed afterwards until the mid-1990s. From 1996 to 1998 it was restored by former shipyard workers as part of a job-creation project. The costs involved amounted to 350,000 Deutschmarks.

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