The Carola crane
It began its service in 1957 at the head of Slipway No.1 of the Euskalduna Shipyard. It was the first lattice gantry crane that was manufactured in the Iberian Peninsula for shipbuilding.
Ships with iron hulls were initially built like wooden ones. With the help of the cranes, the iron profiles, the ribs, or the plates for the hull lining were approached and coupled one by one with infinite rivets. In the mid-twentieth century, welding replaced rivets and began to weld the plates on the ground and assemble them on the slipway. For this task, a more powerful crane was needed. The Carola crane could load parts up to 30 Tm. and measured about 60 m. high.
It owes its name to a woman, Carol Iglesias, who lived on the right bank of the estuary and worked on the left bank.
The students of the Salesian School of Bilbao have made the model. This model, which can be touched, is an exact replica of the Carola crane, one of the most significant pieces in the Itsasmuseum collection in Bilbao.
