Wooden sailing vessel Batavia was successfully transported to and installed at its final resting place in Lelystad on Oct 2. The 1995-delivered, full-scale reconstruction of the 1628 Dutch East India Company ship had been prepared for its final voyage at Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam. 

It was transported on a specially built cradle, placed on a pontoon, and driven ashore at Museum Batavialand, Lelystad. Two SPMT trains of 28 axle lines each took the 646-tonne wooden ship and her 101.2-tonne cradle off a pontoon, up a purpose-built ramp, across the Markermeer dike and 250 meters onto the grounds of Museum Batavialand. The next day, the jacking system lowered her onto her permanent concrete foundation.

Q3 Heavy Lift built up the two SPMT trains in Dordrecht and shipped them on a small pontoon to Amsterdam, where they drove onto the main pontoon and took up position beneath the cradle.

The pontoon was trimmed to meet a prepared ramp, with load-spreading and crane mats laid to carry the trains across the dike footpath. The dike itself was the governing constraint, as the land behind it lies well below sea level. The technical partners closely collaborated with the Directorate-General for Public Works, the Water Authority Zyiderzee and, the Province of Flevoland and the Municipality of Lelystad. The ramp was built deliberately long to keep the approach angle shallow and the ground pressure as even as possible. Q3 Heavy Lift set out the driving path in advance, including ground pressures, subsoil conditions and buried services.

On her new position the Batavia stands more than 8 metrts higher than at her old berth at the museum's quayside, making her visible across the surrounding area. The move is intended to preserve the ship for the long term: ashore, the timber can dry, the hull is better protected from the weather and maintenance can be carried out properly. The Batavia will form the centrepiece of the redeveloped Museum Batavialand, due to open at the end of 2028.