Prelude FLNG ~ Shell Build Video via gCaptain!

gCaptain spots Behind the Scenes Look at Building Prelude FLNG...

Getting Big Stuff Done ~ Stephenson Solves for X

Phantom Geometry ~ Ginormous Robotic 3DP

Thanks to Birago for spotting Phantom Geometry on NotCot...

Arnold Maersk ~ Viewing Big Ship from Above!

gCaptain's Rob Almeida spots video by Jeff Bird of the 6,600 TUE 352m long Arnold Maersk slipping underneath the Bayonne Bridge to dock at the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal! Ginormous! But as Rob points out, she's just a third of the size of the 18,000 TUE Triple-E ships to come...

Mighty Ships ~ Smithsonian on Marine Marvels!

Cool to see the Smithsonian Channel series on Mighty Ships! Episodes cover over a dozen vessels, including the hospital ship Africa Mercy, pipelayer MV Solitaire, dredger Cristobal Colon, dive supporter Skandi Arctic, and super-cruiseliner Oasis of the Seas! Here's the Oasis trailer... (See Full Episode!)

Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C ~ Massive Motive Power

Continuing the theme of big vehicles is today's spotlight on the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C...

"...the largest reciprocating engine in the world, designed for large container ships, running on heavy fuel oil. It stands at 13.5 metres (44 ft) high, is 27.3 m (90 ft) long, and weighs over 2300 tonnes in its largest 14-cylinder version -- producing 80080 kW."

Finnish motive power champion Wärtsilä builds these!

gCaptain spots a few images of this Emma Maersk engine...

And gives some sense of inner workings...

Plus another perspective on just how big it is!

History Channel gets close up view...

Antonov An-225 ~ Heavy Supercargo Ultralifter!

There's only one Antonov An-225! See also "little" brother, the Antonov An-124;-)

PM 1000-URM ~ Plasser & Theurer's Track MRO!

Wow, the PM 1000-URM is a truly ginormous track maintenance and repair machine from Austrian firm Plasser & Theurer! Here it's in use on the NS lines by Dutch MRO ProRail!

Floating Utilities ~ Waller Marine's Power Barges

Very interesting to see these Waller Marine-built power barges...

"...two 300' x 100' barges, each equipped with GE 7FA turbines, that have a combined power generating capacity in excess of 340 MW of electricity. [...] launched in 180 days. Waller Marine designed and managed the construction of the barges, along with the installation of the power plants on the barges, utilizing over 900 men working in shifts, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. This video shows the highlights and progress of the construction, the launch of the barges and their subsequent movement by tug and heavy lift vessel."

FYI, here's inside of the GE 7FA's...

ABB Azipods ~ Flexi Propulsion & Steer Controls

Maritime industry supersite gCaptain spots new ABB Azipod video explaining this flexible ship propulsion and steering system. ABB describes it as an...

"...electric propulsion unit where the variable speed electric motor driving the fixed pitch propeller is in a submerged pod outside the ship hull, and the pod can be rotated around its vertical axis to give the propulsion thrust freely to any direction. Thus the ship does not need rudders, stern transversal thrusters or long shaftlines inside the ship hull."

Making Tracks ~ Railway Maintenance & Repair...

Companies like the Belgian Infrabel maintain & repair railroad trackage using ginormous pieces of equipment! Here's Discovery show on UK's London-Glasgow upgrade by Network Rail, Railtrack, etc (be sure to click thru all 6 segments)... Or here new track laying in KSA... Here UP builds in Nebraska, USA...

Floating Solutions ~ Flexible Heavy-Lift Action...

I've written before about floating hospital ships, Shell's ginormous LNG processing ship, floatable power plants, and other flexible infrastructure (including lots of containerized stuff) and even a jail. Here's some new additions to the list! First, NEAPO's float-in three-storey apartment block built at Turku Shipyard and transferred in one go by water to the island of Hirvensalo, Finland... To build the Snøhvit LNG processing facility in the remote northern Barents Sea, Norway's Statoil commissioned the liquefaction plant from a Spanish engineering firm and floated it via heavy-lift to the Melkøya Island off Hammerfest... Perhaps the most (in)famous example of this is American billionaire Daniel Ludwig's Project Jari, shifting a Japanese-made paper pulp mill around the world and up the Amazon to a Brazilian wood plantation! Here'a a more recent example on a personal scale in this BBC Horizons show on Innovations on water featuring Dutch architect Marlies Rohmer and her waterfront development. Each of the dozens of apartments "floats" are made in a shipyard.

Liebherr LTM 11200 ~ Biggest Mobile Crane!

Dark Roasted Blend spots Liebherr's Most Powerful Crane!

SAL M/V Lone ~ gCaptain Spots Heavylift Ship!

gCaptain spots World's Strongest Heavy Lifter...

"The M/V Lone, owned by shipping company S.A.L. of Germany, together with sister ship Svenja, is the most powerful Heavy Lift Ship in the world. It has two cranes with a joint hoisting capacity of 2,000 tons. The 162-meter long Lone is also DP equipped for offshore work. The video shows above shows the Lone’s first job, transporting six 630 ton pipes from the RHB Terminal in the Rotterdam to Korea."

Antonov An-124 ~ Heavy Cargo Superlifter!

Another in a series of great flight vehicles with roots in Soviet times (e.g. Mi-26, Be-200), this time the Ukranian/Russian Antonov An-124 the world's largest ever serially-manufactured cargo airplane capable of carrying ~120 tons payload. Most recently, the An-124 has been in the news for lifting a 95-ton super-sized concrete pump to Japan to bury the nuclear problem... Ginormous!

Hybrid Air Vehicles ~ Flexible, Heavy-Lift, plus...

The BBC spots The new vehicle set to revolutionise the skies...

"Imagine a flying machine that can cruise in the air for three weeks without landing -- and does not need a runway when it finally comes back to earth. It may sound like science fiction, but the Hybrid Air Vehicle -- which looks like a traditional airship -- can land anywhere and on any surface."

Here's footage of the HAV Ltd SkyCat scale-model flying...

Mil Mi-26 ~ Huge Russian Heavy-Lift Helicopter

Here's another in a series of great Russian flight vehicles, this time the Mil Mi-26 the world's largest multi-purpose heavy-lift helicopter capable of carrying ~20 tons. A belly big enough for tanks, trucks, bus, a hundred passengers... Useful in fighting fires...Here's a clip of action shots... FYI, recently I also spotlighted the United Aircraft Corporation's Beriev Be-200 amphibian aeroplane which is being very actively and effectively used right now in fighting Russian fires.

Beriev Be-200 ~ Russian Amphibian Aeroplane!

I've mentioned the Russian UAC's Beriev Be-200 a couple years before but it's such an fantastically interesting aircraft, I want to spotlight it again! Beyond the obvious firefighting, emergency response, and marine-industrial capabilities, I'm especially keen on the huge tourism implications -- i.e. opening up small islands, connecting with floating docks linked to cruiseships, accessing inaccessible coastlines, lakes, and riverways, and more! P.S. Here you see as of 8 August 2010, the Be-200 in-use fighting the fires ravaging Russia... P.P.S. And here as of 12 August 2010, you see Russian Prime Minister Putin flying a Be-200 waterbomber on a fire fighting run...

MV Dole Chile ~ Specialized Banana Boat!

Thanks to gCaptain for spotting the MV Dole Chile, one of a growing family of specialized banana boats, naturally in all-yellow livery;-) This is a Self-Sustaining Cellular Reefer Vessel according to top industry source infosite, Ship-Technology.

Heavy Lifting ~ Shuttling Beyond Our Cradle;-)

Cool perspective on the NASA Shuttle-shift via 747! Be sure also to see the glorious prep photos and the launch photo I pointed to earlier;-)