Mammoet!

There is currently a huge construction project underway to re-build Rotterdam Central Station. It is a major undertaking including extending the metro line, making a new metro station at Central Station and putting the entire station under cover (at the moment most of it and the platforms are open to the elements). The covering will also have solar panels in them similar to Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

The project started in 2008 and is scheduled to finish in 2013. At the moment the station is in a chaotic mess! We don’t really know it any other way but think it will be really nice when it is finished and not a building site anymore.

We have been really amazed at the rate of progress and how hard people are working on this project. By the time we arrive at the station at about 7:40 each morning, they are already working and when we get back in the evening, ~6:00/6:30-ish, they are still working! Last week when we had dinner in Amsterdam we got back to Central Station at 10:30 and they were still working! Crazy. But you can notice the progress each week, it is amazing! I don’t think construction would normally happen at that pace in SA unless there is a serious deadline, e.g. the Soccer World Cup! Lol.

One of the kewl things at the site we noticed was a crane called a Mammoet! You guessed it, a Mammoth crane! And they really live up to their name, they are HUGE! They are always red and tower over the normal yellow cranes making them look like dinky toys. Mammoet is a Dutch company specialising in heavy lifting equipment and make the largest cranes in the world. We added up the counter weights for this crane and came up with about 400 tons! Crazy. I scoured their website for more facts n figures on their website but specific information was sparse; their cranes are flexible and they offer custom solutions so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all-here-is-the-answer type info page. But I did find that they have cranes with a capacity of up to 4, 400 tons! i think the crane we saw at Central Station is a Ring Crane and that it has since moved on to the Erasmus Medical Centre were they are currently building as well.

And then it was weekend again! Yay! We don’t have too much planned for this weekend. There will be some home admin, rugby watching and a work friend of Justin’s is coming round on Saturday evening to tell us more about his recent holiday to Turkey and show us some pics =)

Have a kewl weekend!

x  

Mammoet! Notice the counter weights.

Mammoet at Erasmus MC. Notice how it towers over the building and how small the yellow crane is in comparison! 

Construction at Rotterdam Central Station. This frame will be for the overhead covering. This photo was taken two weeks ago and already the structure stretches out to the left even more. Notice the typical Rotterdam clouds....