Cargolifter AG was a German company founded in 1996 to offer logistical services through point-to point transport of heavy and outsized loads. This service was based on the development of a heavy lift airship, the CL160, a 550000 m3 vessel designed to carry a 160 t payload.[1] The airship was never built and the company went bankrupt in July 2002. Today, shareholder-founded CL CargoLifter GmbH & Co. KG company seeks to continue selling the lighter-than-air technology. CargoLifter and Russia’s Aerosmena are among those developing huge airships that can lift up to 600 tons (609 tonnes) of freight while hovering above the ground or sea.[2]
Cargolifter AG was founded by a group of influential engineers and scientists in 1996, and its main goal was to promote airships and develop technologies for their use as a lifting mechanism for transporting heavy and bulky goods to hard-to-reach places. As one cubic meter of helium has a buoyancy of roughly one kilogram, the size of a craft required to lift heavy loads is considerable.
History
Company
Cargolifter AG was created on 1 September 1996 in Wiesbaden, Germany. A public stock offering took place in May 2000, and the resulting shareholder structure was characterized by a high proportion of small investors, attracted by substantial press coverage of the new breakthrough technologies being promised.
Hangar
The hangar for production and operation of the CL160 and engineering team facilities were built on the former Soviet Air Force base at Brand-Briesen Airfield, Brandenburg, acquired to enable development and operations. The hangar (360 m long, 220 m wide and 106 m high) is a freestanding steel-dome "barrel-bowl" construction. The hangar was also equipped with a 180 m cutting table to manufacture the airship's envelope.
After the company went bankrupt in 2002, the Tropical Islands Resort water park was opened there in 2004.
Airship
The first CL 160 airship was never built, though a considerable amount of design and development work was undertaken.
Insolvency
On 7 June 2002 the company announced insolvency, and liquidation proceedings began the following month. The fate of parts of the 300 million euros in shareholder funds from over 70,000 investors is still unclear.
In June 2003, the company's facilities were sold off for less than 20% of the construction costs. The airship hangar was converted to a 'tropical paradise'-themed indoor holiday resort called Tropical Islands, which opened in 2004.
The Skyship airship, which had been purchased by Cargolifter for training and research purposes, was sold to Swiss Skycruise and used in Athens for flights connected with the Olympic games held there.
Continuation
The CL CargoLifter GmbH & Co. KG company, founded by former Cargolifter AG shareholders, seeks to sell the lighter-than-air technology[4] and is exploring the construction of smaller airships.
See also
- Aeroscraft, a hybrid airship with the same aim as CargoLifter
- Walrus HULA
- Airlander
External links
References
- CL160 www.aerospace-technology.com, retrieved 15 September 2006^
- 3 moonshot innovations that might just work www.managementtoday.co.uk, retrieved 2021-10-12^
- Cargolifter-Boeing agreement www.boeing.com, retrieved 11 July 2006^