Heavy Lift III

The inside story of the mega machines building the longest railway tunnel in the world under the Alps. Far below the Brenner Pass, construction is underway on the Brenner Base Tunnel, the longest underground railway connection in the world, which cuts right through the heart of Europe’s Alps. We go inside to follow one of Europe’s largest work sites that will help connect Scandinavia to the mediterranean Sea and cut the passenger time on the ride between Austrian and Italy from 80 minutes to a mere 25 minutes A joint project between Italy, Austria and the EU, the Brenner Base Tunnel is actually two main tunnels, each 8.1 meters wide so train traffic runs only one way, with side tunnels every 333 meters and an exploratory tunnel for construction and maintenance. The new line runs almost straight and nearly horizontal between Innsbruck and Franzenfeste in Italy. The sharp curves, inclines and declines of the 150-year-old existing Brenner Railway will soon be a thing of the past.

The story of how a massive container ship MV Dali was disentangled from the collapsed Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore after a fatal collision in 2024. In the early hours of March 26, 2024, the MV Dali departed the port of Baltimore headed for Sri Lanka. While navigating through the channel, the 1,000-foot long Singapre-flagged cargo ship lost power and crashed into the bridge. Traffic was light, but six workers were killed. In order to disentangle the ship from the steel bridge, the US Corps of Engineers and the US Navy alongside salvage company Resolve Marine brought in one of the world’s largest cranes, the Chesapeake 1000. The crane is able to lift 1000 short tons of load and had been involved in building a ship able to lift a Soviet nuclear submarine from 4000 meters below the surface of the Pacific ocean in 1974 – operation Azorian. Engineers and Salvage Masters tell the story of how Dali was disentangled and the debris removed.

The story of how “Big Carl,” the tallest crane in the world, was born, and the massive weights it is able to lift all over the globe. The Belgian crane company Sarens has built the tallest crane in the word, known affectionately as Big Carl, the SCG 250, capable of lifting 5000 metric tonnes. It was moved via 280 massive land transport vehicles to Hinkley Point in the UK, where it was erected and used in the construction of a nuclear power station – Hinkley Point C. It is powered by 12 electric diesel engines. In 2025 it was used to second all-steel dome of the power station that weighed 246 metric tonnes. Sarens builds big cranes used to move the heaviest loads, rented as far away as Panama and throughout Europe.

How the renowned stave church of one of Sweden’s northernmost towns was picked up and moved for expansion of the world’s largest iron ore mine. The municipality of Kiruna is Sweden’s northernmost and is home to the world’s largest iron ore mine, that reaches the incredible depth of 1,350 meters. It also happens to be Sweden’s largest municipality. With all these amazing features, of course the city of Kiruna had to be the scene of one of the most incredible moves. The renowned stave church of Kiruna was in danger of collapse dur to the extension of the mine, so the Municipality, the Parish and the Mine owners worked together to move it. The move took two days and was watched by thousands of people, including the King of Sweden.

Heavy Lift at Sea - an inside look at the float-on-float method of using semi-submersable ships to lift and move other floating objects. With incredible access to one of the world’s foremost semi submersible ships, owned by Rolldock in the Netherlands, this episode tells the story of how floating loads such as barges used in windfarm building, private yachts and even navy ships can be transported to distant destinations without the use of lifting equipment. The float-on-float-off method is possible thanks to semi-submersible ships that sink low enough for other floating vessels can simply sail into their hull, allowing for transport over long distances at low cost and low risk.

The mammoth SunZia wind farm project in the American Southwest is the largest renewable energy infrastructure in U.S. history. This episode recounts the difficult task of moving the wind turbines across the canyons of New Mexico. The SunZia wind farm project in New Mexico, owned by Pattern energy, is the United States’ largest ever renewable energy infrastructure and the largest wind farm in the western hemisphere. Moving the wind turbines and erecting them is a mammoth task. Built by Pattern Energy, the project will cost, once finished, over 11 Billion USD and has taken over 10 years to get off the ground. Moving the wind turbines across the canyons of New Mexico is the biggest logistical challenge that the project faces. In all there will be over 800 wind turbines, built by General Electric in several states. The G.E. wind turbines are the tallest in the world. Moving and maintaining these monsters is a challenge in its own right. A number of heavy lift companies are being engaged to bring in the towers.