MANITOWOC – Manitowoc’s two big blue cranes appear to be on the move.
Friday afternoon, Nov. 14, one of the 200-foot-tall cranes was seen being prepared for shipment with a tugboat nearby in the water.
While the Herald Times Reporter could not immediately confirm when the cranes would be transported, online reports suggested at least one of the cranes could leave Manitowoc as early as 7 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15.
The cranes were finished in late 2023 and have been parked in the Broadwind Heavy Fabrications docking area waiting to travel by barge to faraway U.S. Navy shipyards. They are part of a U.S. Navy contract and will be used to service submarine fleets. Their departure had been delayed after they were originally expected to ship in 2024. The U.S. Navy decides when the cranes ship.
The big blue cranes have been affectionately named ‘Manitowoc’s skyscrapers’ by some.
At 200 feet tall, the cranes are approximately 20 stories tall and have been referred to by some as “Manitowoc’s skyscrapers.”
The cranes were designed and contracted by the Finnish company Konecranes, and components were made by Broadwind. One will go to Washington state and the other to Hawaii. They will travel through the Great Lakes and then along the East Coast on the Atlantic. They will pass through the Panama Canal, and then either up to the Pacific Northwest or to the Hawaiian Islands, Brett Hartman, director of business development for Broadwind, previously told the Herald Times Reporter.
‘Big Blue’ was the original crane built in Manitowoc in 2021.
These are the second and third cranes built in Manitowoc after the first, “Big Blue,” was constructed in 2021.
Big Blue became a local social media hit, with fans showing up on shore to watch her on her way or keeping track of her location online. She even won the annual Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest that year. The original “Big Blue” traveled slowly by barge for a few weeks through the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Broadwind agreed to sell its industrial fabrication operations in Manitowoc this past June.
In June, Illinois-based Broadwind announced it had agreed to sell its industrial fabrication operations in Manitowoc for not less than $13 million.
Broadwind President and CEO Eric Blashford said in the announcement that consolidating the site was expected to reduce operating costs by about $8 million per year and improve the utilizations across the rest of the company’s operations.
The big blue cranes harken to the Manitowoc community’s long shipbuilding history. During World War II, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built 28 submarines for the U.S. Navy.
Contact Brandon Reid at breid@usatodayco.com. Contact reporter Patti Zarling at pzarling@usatodayco.com or call 920-606-2575.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc’s ‘skyscrapers,’ two big blue cranes could ship as early as Nov. 15
Reporting by Brandon Reid and Patti Zarling, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter / Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
