After fifty years the last working Hotlo engine is coming home. This ship diesel engine from the Stork generation returns to the place where it was built fifty years ago, the city of Hengelo in the Netherlands.
The diesel is installed in the old drillingship, the Noble Roger Eason, at the (former Dutch Verolme) BrasFELS shipyard in Angra dos Reis near Rio de Janeiro. With a huge operation the heavy 400 ton motor will be lifted from its chassis, since the Foundation Hotlo wants to show the engine operational in the Hengelo museum, the future House of Innovation.
200 Engines
Almost 200 of these engines were manufactured by the Stork factory. Back in the fifties Stork played an important role for the community of Hengelo. Many families and local subcontractors depended on jobs from Stork.
Tracing the Last Working Hotlo
Members of the Foundation Save our Stork Hotlo traced and found the last working Hotlo diesel in Brazil. Since 2009 they are committed to bring the Hotlo home. All members are passionate fans and some have special memories from the days they worked on a Hotlo-motorised ship.
Lifting the Engine
Weeks of preparations to make the lifting of the engine from the vessel possible, have passed. Under supervision and close corporation with the Noble and Keppel companies, the BrasFELS cranes lifted the diesel engine from its position and prepared it for the transport to the Netherlands. Chairman Cor Homans and member Ben Rodenburg witnessed the lifting of the engine from the old vessel at the shipyard.
2015
The transport of the engine and five containers of other machinery such as pumps and valves necessary to make the engine run again in Hengelo, will all be shipped to Rotterdam. The operation will still take several years in all to get the engine running. The foundation expects to be ready no sooner than 2015.
For more information: www.sos-hotlo.nl and www.tubantia.nl. Below a video with some background information as well as footage of the lifting of the engine from the Noble Roger Eason (partly in Dutch).
