Bridge Demolition by Krebs Korrosionsschutz GmbH Aided by Cometto SPMTs

For over 90 years, a swing bridge in Bremerhaven had formed the link between the international port and Columbus Island. But massive damage meant it had to be dismantled. This was a job tailor-made for the experts from Krebs Korrosionsschutz GmbH and their Cometto SPMT self-propelled fleet.

Such an historic structure, the oldest revolving railway bridge in Germany, would of course not be demolished without reason, but the danger of collapse proved simply to be too great. What was more, repairing the cracked upper span of the ageing structure was no longer possible. The Bremen Senate therefore decided to rebuild this 116-metre bridge. Approval for the demolition work was issued without delay so that the port blockade could be quickly resolved.

Krebs Korrosionsschutz GmbH put forward a suitable concept to professionally disassemble and dispose of the north floodgate bridge in line with strict environmental regulations. These experts had already demonstrated their skills in other complex dismantling projects and were now also awarded the contract to scrap the bridge in Bremerhaven.

The bridge was towed on a barge to Lubmin via the Kiel Canal. Once there, the 1,000-ton section was lowered from the barge using 36 self-propelled Cometto SPMT modular axle lines and two 202 kW power packs.

The MSPE self-propelled modular axle lines set the bridge down on “elephant feet” at the recycling site using the hydraulic lift axle. The workers then ignited their cutting torches to start cutting the steel. Subsequently, the steel was fed into the blast furnace for recycling as steel to make new bridges to provide a trouble-free connection for decades.

Bridge demolition has become routine for Krebs and the Comotto SPMTs

Source Cometto