Eiffel Tower boat lift

French crane contractor S.E Levage has completed a job that involved lifting a five tonne, 18-metre-long boat onto the first storey of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France – a height of approximately 60 metres.

S.E Levage used a Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2 mobile crane for the lift. The job was carried out overnight, although the assembly work on the 300-tonne crane (which had to be prepared with ballast and a lattice jib) started whilst many tourists were still hanging around at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

In addition to the tourists, S.E Levage had to contend with wind turbulence. This meant that the boat couldn’t be hoisted up through the inside of the Eiffel Tower, as originally intended. Instead, the mobile crane was moved from underneath the middle of the Eiffel Tower to an adjoining road. The change of location for the lift resulted in an additional 20 percent radius for the lift. However, this wasn’t a problem for the LTM 1300-6.2, which has a maximum load capacity of 300 tonnes and a maximum hoist height of 114 metres. Despite the challenges the lift went well and the boat was placed in position safely.