Smit Tak Salvage Team Recover Holyhead Linkspan

A Smit Tak salvage team has recovered the new roll on-roll off linkspan which collapsed during installation at Holyhead in 1995. The recovery operation was performed with great care, to minimise further damage to the linkspan structure - which is to be refurbished.

The linkspan is one of two ordered for Stena Sealink's new, high speed ferry service across the Irish Sea (Holyhead/Dun Laoghaire). Both structures were fabricated in Finland and then transported by barge to the UK. The delivery barge first called at Holyhead, with the intention of then proceeding to Dun Laoghaire. However, the Holyhead linkspan was still being installed when it collapsed on a rising tide during October 2.

Smit Tak obtained the salvage contract for the recovery of the linkspan. The team on site at Holyhead included divers, heavy lift specialists and other salvage personnel. The equipment mobilised included the 600-tonne lift capacity sheerlegs Uglen and the smaller sheerlegs Ramlift VI (100-tonne lift capacity).

Work began on October 15 with the installation of two special lifting points on the 35 m x 34 m deck of the ramp. Additional underwater work was carried out in order to clear wreckage; the heavy lift team then connected the Ramlift IV to the linkspan's floater pontoon and the Uglen to the ramp.

The first phase of the lifting operation raised the part-submerged deck until it reached its correct installed alignment. The salvage team severed the ramp from the floater pontoon. The floater was then parbuckled, manoeuvred into an upright position and taken to the quayside by the Ramlift VI.

Smit Tak Project Manager Douwe Lanting says: 'The final phase of the project then commenced, with the Uglen lifting the 595-tonne ramp clear of the water. With the deck disengaged from its shoreside mountings, the Uglen was able to lift it onto the deck of the transport pontoon - which was still laden with the Dun Laoghaire linkspan.'

The recovery was completed on October 21, when the floater pontoon was loaded onto the transport pontoon. Preparations are now in hand to refurbish the Holyhead linkspan and complete the installation task