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Instead of the heaviest objects, the most difficult lifting jobs often involve the largest or most valuable loads. Both of these applied when New Zealand Crane Hire was asked to lift a carbon fibre yacht mast constructed by Southern Spars. The one-of-a- kind mast worth more than AUS$3 million had to be moved about 1 km from Southern Spars’ factory to the super-yacht Kokomo in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.

Weighing in at 11.7 tonnes and measuring 65 m, the mast was too long to be moved around street corners on a trailer.

Three lifts were planned – one to move it from the factory to the transport truck, another to lift it over buildings on a street corner and back onto the truck, and another to position it next to the yacht ready to be lifted into place.

For the main lifts a 220 tonne capacity Grove GMK6220L telescopic mobile crane with 70 m of boom was used while a Franna At-20 was used to move lifting equipment to the next setup location after each lift.

The series of three set-ups and lifts took place on a calm night and was completed in about six hours.