ALE Complete Load-in Operations for Aircraft Carrier Project
ALE has completed the final load-in operations for the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier project with the completion of its work on the second carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, at Rosyth Royal Dockyard, UK. The project involves the construction of the largest complex warships ever to be built for the Royal Navy.
The carriers were fabricated in blocks at six locations throughout the UK and ALE’s scope included the weighing, jacking and skidding, site movement, load-out and load-in at the integration yard in Rosyth. During this phase, ALE has performed 26 load-in operations of sections ranging from 230t – 11,500t utilising a variety of SPMT configurations reaching up to 448 axle lines for the heavier lower block. ALE also skidded the forward section of the second aircraft carrier, weighing 26,500t – the heaviest item to ever be skidded by ALE in the UK.
John Davis, Senior Sales Manager for ALE, said, “One of the key factors of the project was the co-operation between ALE branches. This included our team who were responsible for the skidding of the heaviest piece, the forward section which weighed 26,500t.”
“We are proud to be involved in such a prestigious project and would like to thank all teams involved for their hard work to execute the work safely and on schedule. As our scope of work draws to a close, this project represents a major milestone for us and showcases our capabilities in the shipbuilding market.”
In 2013 ALE completed their scope for the first warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth and in October last year skidded the final sections for the second warship, HMS Prince of Wales. Now that the load-in scope for the whole project is complete, ALE will perform the final two weighings at the Rosyth Yard, the integration yard for both of the Aircraft Carriers.