Marr Contracting case study: 1915Çanakkale Bridge, Turkey

Connecting the towns of Gelibolu (Gallipoli) on the European side of Turkey with Lapseki on the Asian side, Turkey’s 1915Çanakkale Bridge will be the longest span suspension bridge in the world. At a total length of 4.6kms with a central span of more than 2kms supported by 318m-high bridge towers, the engineering feats to construct the bridge are staggering – and so were the heavy lifting requirements.

When the DL E&C–Limak–SK ecoplant–Yapi Merkezi Joint Venture (DLSY JV) won the contract to construct the 1915Çanakkale Bridge, they had a clear idea about how they wanted to build the project, but they needed a craneage partner who could think outside the box to bring that vision to life. That's where Marr Contracting stepped in.

Working with the DLSY JV, Marr developed a solution using two of our M2480Ds that allowed large, modularised sections of the bridge towers to be fabricated in a controlled environment offsite before being delivered to the worksite by barge for installation instead of lifting smaller components and welding on-site.

The unparalleled lifting capacity of our M2480Ds was a game changer for the project, with two ‘world firsts’ during construction of the bridge towers. By modularising the structure into larger, heavier sections our solution reduced the number of lifts and the overall construction schedule.

In March 2022, the 1915Çanakkale Bridge opened more than 12 months ahead of schedule.