Kennards Lift & Shift were able to provide four 6-tonne pneumatic chain hoists to lift Sydney’s ANZAC Bridge maintenance gantry.

The gantry which weighs nearly thirteen tonnes and spanning nearly thirty metres, was lifted from the ground back in to its original position under the bridge using the chain hoists hired from Kennards.

The manoeuvre was a vital stage in a current maintenance operation taking place on ANZAC bridge, the longest concrete cable-stayed bridge in Australia.

It is the first major step of maintenance since the bridge opened to traffic in 1995 and will take place around two years to complete.

The maintenance gantry was refurbishment and upgraded as part of the project in order to allow maintenance access to new permanent access installations.

Shane Bannister, Bridge Solutions Alliance Project Engineer, explained that although the team were able to remove the gantry using cranes, they were not able to reinstate it using the same method.

As a result the “BSA team came up with the solution and asked Kennards Lift & Shift to source the necessary equipment to achieve the 33 metre lift."

Each of the chain hoists was attached to a customised bracket and secured to the underside of the bridge deck with four anchors. The operation was carefully planned over a period of months and was executed without any issues.

"Overall it was a complete success.” said Mr Bannister.