Special jack-up barges supplied by an Ipswich company have been towed to Germany to support the construction of a new £221m bridge.

Marine engineers at Red7Marine have been involved with a project to create a new bridge over the Kiel Canal in Rendsburg to replace one that is crumbling.

The firm - which first became involved in the project in 2022 - earmarked its 250t Haven Seariser 4 and 400t Haven SeaSeven jack-up barges to support the work.

The jack-up barges were equipped with modular legs to enable them to pass over high-voltage power lines.

Haven SeaSeven - the primary barge for piling activities for the project - carried 70t of temporary equipment designed and fabricated by Red7Marine engineers with the help of design partners MintMech.

Ipswich Star: Red7Marine provided specialist jack-up barges for the Rendsburgh Bridge project in Germany

The temporary equipment included a bull rail and removable cantilever platform.

This enabled a 100t crane to protrude off the side of the barge and carry out drilling operations and pile installations for the bridge foundations.

Haven Seariser 4 was equipped with a 250t crane to lift objects - including a 30m-plus reinforcement cage.

Ten years ago, severe damage was detected on the busy Rader High Bridge, which originally opened in 1972.

Traffic has increased massively over the last few years with 63,000 vehicles forecast to travel across the bridge by 2035.

So the agency responsible for the German road network hired Implenia Construction along with Plauen Stahl Technologie and Zwickauer Sonderstahlbau to build a new bridge next door.

The project involves the demolition of the old bridge and the creation of a new one with three lanes and a hard shoulder in either direction. The scheme is due to be completed by 2031.

Red7Marine managing director Kristen Branford said they were delighted with how the work had gone.

"It was also great to witness the engineering innovations on-site being led by Implenia," he said.

"It has been a delight to be involved in this important infrastructure project which will provide essential international transport and trade links between Germany and its neighbours.”

Implenia project manager Sönke von Fintel said working with Red7Marine on the challenging project had been "a great pleasure".

Red7Marine provides jack-up barges to the marine construction industry.

A jack-up barge - sometimes known as a self-elevating platform - is a platform which rises above the water on hydraulically-powered legs.

They are often used in the construction industry at ports and harbours for piling operations and offshore to build offshore wind farms - where they act as an accommodation platform.