Anyone who has looked out to sea from the Manilva coast in recent days may have witnessed one of the most spectacular maritime transports of the year. A colossal metal structure, the deck (tablier) of the future Anne-de-Bretagne bridge in Nantes, is currently sailing through the waters of the western Mediterranean, passing off the Manilva coastline on its journey to the Atlantic.
The central piece is, quite literally, a mass of steel, and these are its dimensions:
- Length: 150 metres
- Width: 42 metres (wider than most football pitches)
- Total height: 25 metres
- Weight of the convoy: around 3,100 tonnes
Coming from the port of Monfalcone (Italy), the structure is moving slowly on a huge barge towed by two powerful tugs at approximately 6 knots (11 km/h), on a sea and river journey of 5,000 kilometres.
An Impressive Voyage
The convoy set sail on 26 October 2025, after a complex loading operation that required dismantling port access points and using self-propelled kamag vehicles to position the structure on the barge. Ten days later, it reached the vicinity of the Balearic Islands, and in recent days it has been skirting the Andalusian coast, visible from the Manilva coast before approaching the Strait of Gibraltar.
To ensure its stability during the crossing, the tablier travels secured by a temporary cable-stay system, a network of cables that increases its rigidity to prevent deformation caused by the swell or its own weight. According to the project’s engineers, the structure being transported «is comparable to an eight-storey building».
From Italy to France, Heading for an Iconic Bridge
After crossing the strait and the Bay of Biscay, the barge will sail up the Loire from Saint-Nazaire to the port of Cheviré, where the final assembly phase will begin. The aim is to widen the existing Anne-de-Bretagne bridge to three times its current width and turn it into a «bridge-square» able to carry Nantes’ new tram lines 6 and 7. The opening is scheduled for the end of 2027.
Beyond the visual spectacle, transporting the tablier in a single piece brings significant environmental savings: it avoids more than 100 lorry journeys and cuts CO₂ emissions by around 6,000 tonnes compared with a project to replace the entire bridge.
Meanwhile, from Manilva we have been able to see this steel giant crossing the Mediterranean, on its way to becoming one of the most distinctive bridges in Europe.
