July 19 - The steel-hulled, four-masted barque Peking has been successfully loaded on the semi-submersible Combi Dock III in New York Harbour for transport to Germany onboard the Combi Lift vessel.
As reported our March/April Ships and Shipping Lines supplement, page 26 and on May 27, the historic barque will be taken to Hamburg, Germany from New York City, USA, where it has been for over four decades.
The windjammer is 155.5 m in length, with a beam of 14.3 m, a draft of 4.2 m, and a gross weight of 3,700 tonnes. Alexander Poirier, naval architect and project engineer for Peking at Stiftung Hamburg Maritim, remarked how although the vessel is not especially heavy, its length and fragility poses more of a risk to bringing the ship back safely.
The Combi Dock III utilised its flo-flo ability. Peter Kelch, chartering manager at Combi Lift explained how the ballast tanks were flooded to lower the cargo deck below the water's surface, which allowed the Peking to be moved into position for loading. It was loaded stern first, after which the tanks were pumped out, and the deck rose to support the load.
After seafastening with over 70 bottom and side support structures, the Peking will take approximately 12 days to make the crossing across the Atlantic, before the restoration takes place at the Peters Werft shipyard in Wewelsfleth, Germany. Following the restoration process, the windjammer will be the centrepiece of a EUR120 million (USD138.25 million) museum complex in the harbour.
