Kockums Crane

The Kockums Crane in around the mid-1970s
The crane in February 2000

The Kockums Crane (Swedish: Kockumskranen) is a 140-metre (459 ft)[1] high gantry crane in the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea.[2] It was originally used at the Kockums shipyard in Malmö, Sweden.

History

It was built in 1973–74 and could lift 1,500 tonnes (1,476 long tons; 1,653 short tons). The gauge of crane's rails was 174 metres (571 ft) and the rail length 710 metres (2,329 ft).[1] The crane was used to build about 75 ships. Its last use in Malmö was in mid-1997, when it lifted the foundations of the high pillars of the Öresund Bridge.

The crane was first sold in the early 1990s to the Danish company Burmeister & Wain but the company went bankrupt before the crane could be moved.

The crane was a landmark of Malmö from its time of construction until its dismantling in the summer of 2002, when it was shipped to Ulsan, after being sold to Hyundai Heavy Industries for $1.[2] The Koreans have dubbed the crane 말뫼의 눈물 (Tears of Malmö), because the residents of Malmö reportedly wept when they saw their crane being towed away.[2]

Locations

Former location:  55°36′52″N 12°59′23″E / 55.6144615°N 12.9896602°E / 55.6144615; 12.9896602 (Kockums Crane)   ("Kockums Crane")
Today's location: 35°28′38″N 129°24′18″E / 35.4772042°N 129.4049405°E / 35.4772042; 129.4049405 (Tears of Malmö) ("Tears of Malmö")

At Ulsan the crane is located on a tongue of land within the Bangeo-dong quarter right at the mouth of the Taehwa River. Additionally a second gantry crane with a lifting capacity of 1,600 tonnes (1,575 long tons; 1,764 short tons) was subsequently erected nearby. The two cranes share a common working area. "Tears of Malmö" is the more southern of the two.[3][4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Kockumskranen under nedmontering" [disassembly Kockums Crane]. industrihistoriaiskane.se (in Swedish). Föreningen Industrihistoria i Skåne. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Bloomberg: Korean Shipbuilders Hold Off China on Pricier Orders at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-06-04) – ("Tears of Malmoe", selling of the crane, Bloomberg 9 May 2007)
  3. ^ "Picture of "Tears of Malmö"" (in Korean). Taken from „Hwaam Chu Deungdae“ (Korean: 화암추등대) lighthouse: Google Maps. July 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Satellite photo of "Tears of Malmö"" (in Japanese). yahoo.jp. Retrieved 25 March 2022. (With lifting capacity of neighbor crane visible)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kockumskranen.

55°36′52″N 12°59′23″E / 55.6144615°N 12.9896602°E / 55.6144615; 12.9896602