NIAGARA FALLS – A large Liebherr crane that will remove the Maid of the Mist vessels from the Niagara River arrived Thursday on several flat-bed trucks.
The crane, which was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean from Germany, weighs 157 tons and has a maximum lifting capacity of 220 tons with a maximum outreach of 78 feet.
It will be assembled in Niagara Falls and will lift the Maid of the Mist boats from the river at the new dry dock near the site of the former Schoellkopf power plant every November, at the end of the season.
Operators of the Maid had to find new storage for their vessels after a California company, Hornblower Yachts, won the tour rights beginning next year on the Canadian side of the border, where the boats had been stored over each winter.
The crane, which was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean from Germany, weighs 157 tons and has a maximum lifting capacity of 220 tons with a maximum outreach of 78 feet.
It will be assembled in Niagara Falls and will lift the Maid of the Mist boats from the river at the new dry dock near the site of the former Schoellkopf power plant every November, at the end of the season.
Operators of the Maid had to find new storage for their vessels after a California company, Hornblower Yachts, won the tour rights beginning next year on the Canadian side of the border, where the boats had been stored over each winter.