50 meters high is the gantry crane in the French port at Saint Nazaire on the Atlantic coast. It was built in 1967 and even then, VAHLE equipment was used: The company from Kamen delivered a cable tender for the power supply of the crane.
With a lifting capacity of 750 tons, a span of 124 meters and a lifting speed of 24 meters per minute, the crane has been the most important aid in the dry dock in France's largest dockyard "Les Chantiers de L'Atlantique".
The crane is visible from a long distance and makes work in the dockyard possible at all. Many people in Saint Nazaire even speak of it as an industrial landmark.
Normally, the steel giant is capable of withstanding wind and weather. But not on January 4,1998. "Timeout" was called when violent storms visited the mouth of the River Loire.
The main trolley of the crane started to move due to hurricane-like winds and then it fell into the Loire. The crane was out-of-service for serveral months.
The quality of the VAHLE cable tender showed itself in that it was hardly damaged and withstood to violent storm. However, for safety's sake the dockyard ordered a new tender. VAHLE promptly delivered and work resumed in the dry dock in May 1998.