Two Liebherr cranes are involved in an airport project on Saint Helena. The island Saint Helena, located more than 2,000 km from the African mainland, has only been accessible by ship to date. This takes 5 days from Cape Town, with departure once per 3 weeks, making Saint Helena one of the most remote populated places on earth, measured as travel time from major cities.  In order to improve the transport infrastructure to and from the island an international airport has been under construction since early 2012.

For this construction project two Liebherr cranes, belonging to the South African construction group Basil Read Ltd., were delivered to Saint Helena: one LR 1200 crawler crane and one HS 895 HD duty cycle crawler crane. Not only was the distance challenging, but also the permissible transport weight proved to be an aggravating factor.

Both cranes are currently being used for the construction of a permanent wharf at the island’s Rupert’s Bay. The wharf is a necessary infrastructural measure not only for the airport project and the delivery of required material but also for Saint Helena’s entire economy in the future. It will ensure that larger vessels will be able to call at the island’s port.

The estimated building costs amount to approximately 270 million euros. After the scheduled completion of the airport in 2016 it will be sufficient for the landing of most short and medium range aircrafts.