Egyptian engineers harness bridge transport methods to move world's oldest ship
Archaeologists and engineers in Cairo have utilised machines usually used to move bridges to transport a 4,500-year old boat into its new position over 8km away.
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and a Besix-Orascom Construction joint venture successfully transported the oldest intact ship in the world - King Khufu's solar boat - from its archaeological site at the Pyramids to a new dedicated building within the Grand Eqyptian Museum.
The two-day operation was undertaken between August 5 - 7 and saw the 45-tonne boat moved 8.5km from its current enclosed site at the foot of the pyramids to the new museum, with a remote-controlled bridge mover reaching speeds of 1km per hour.
Measuring 43.6m in length and 5.9m wide, the boat was lifted and placed in a secure 60t steel cage which was specifically designed to accommodate the relic.
This extraction was carried out by driving a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) into the existing exhibition building in such a way as not to jeopardise the integrity of the ship, which required taking into account multiple parameters, including the relatively strong wind on the Giza plateau and very little room for manoeuvre due to the narrow structure of the existing building and the delicate archeological environment.
Once at its new site at the Grand Egyption Museum complex an 800-tonne crawler crane was raised to a height of 30 metres so that it could enter through the roof of the building and be installed in its new display.
Commenting on the operation Pierre Sironval, deputy CEO of BESIX Group said: "BESIX Group is extremely proud of the achievement of this extraordinary and delicate operation and the excellence with which it was carried out. I would like to congratulate all our teams at BESIX and Orascom Construction, as well as the experts at Sarens.
Inherited from ancient Egypt, the King Khufu Solar Boat is considered to be the oldest intact ship in the world. Presumably built for King Khufu, it was placed around 2500 BC in a pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The ship was discovered in 1954 by the Egyptologist Kamal el-Mallakh, the King Khufu Solar Boat has been presented to the public since 1985 in the Giza Solar Boat Museum, a few metres from where it was found.
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