Steel girders weighing tonnes for the new Pfaffendorf Bridge in Koblenz lifted into place by floating crane

The new Pfaffendorf Bridge connects the city centre of Koblenz with the right bank of the Rhine. In mid-June, the first steel girders weighing several tonnes for the new Rhine bridge in the river section were lifted into place using a floating crane. The seven steel parts weighing up to 480 tonnes for the first of five construction phases were lifted into place by crane from a pontoon in the Rhine. Due to the low water level, the Rhine first had to be dredged deeper at the lifting point so that the pontoons could be moved safely for the 600 tonne crawler crane.

The steel girders were manufactured as individual parts weighing up to 90 tonnes at our plant in Darmstadt, then transported by heavy goods vehicle to Mannheim, where they were pre-assembled into large components and transported by ship down the Rhine from Mannheim’s Rheinau harbour to the construction site in Koblenz.

‘The good preparation of our bridge construction experts and the precision work of our technical office, production and assembly team made it possible to lift in this challenging bridge structure with millimetre precision,’ says Stephan Langer, Head of Bridge Construction at Donges SteelTec.

Once the first bridge components have been lifted into place on the castle side, further steel components will follow in autumn and winter 2025, including on the Pfaffendorf side. The concreting of the second river pier was already completed here last week. The bridge is scheduled for completion in 2029.