Rothen Introduces New Boat to Its Fleet

The Rothen Group, a national independent civil engineering and maintenance business servicing UK Waterways, has introduced a new 70ft narrow-beam crane boat to its fleet.

According to the company, the 70ft narrow-beam crane boat has made lock maintenance even safer, more cost-effective and efficient for users. Operators can also use a controls device, from a safe proximity, in order to move the 16m extendable crane and lock into situ.

Ian Rothen, Founder of The Rothen Group, commented: “Working on the canals over the past 18 years I’ve noticed a gap in the market for a solution like this, which would make lock maintenance safer and speedier for contractors working in hard to reach and narrow areas of the waterways.“

“The boat reduces downtime and can safely lift and move up to 1.5 tonnes, meaning it can also be used for other heavy lifting required on the canal, not just lock gates,” added Ian Rothen.

To date, The Rothen Group’s 70ft crane boat innovation has been used exclusively by the Canal and River Trust on three separate jobs, in Banbury, Worcester and Warwickshire.

Brendan Kavanagh, Site Supervisor at the Trust: “The Rothen Group’s 70ft narrow- beam crane boat has completely removed the need to use gantry lifting cranes when maintaining locks on the canal network. As a result, manual lifting is now a thing of the past. This has significantly sped-up our operation by reducing the time usually taken to complete this type of job by up to two days, delivering cost savings too.”

The Rothen Group also has a wide-beam crane pontoon version, which has been purpose built to hold up to six tonnes, and is ideal for a range of lifting operations from piling and dredging to lock gate removal and installation.