TRAC Helps Transport Lady Liberty Replica to Ellis Island for Independence Day

June 30, 2021

The Statue of Liberty will welcome some company on Ellis Island this year as a nine-foot bronze sibling statue, nicknamed the “little sister,” will be installed facing Lady Liberty from July 1-5 to celebrate Independence Day. The 992-pound replica will then be transported to Washington, D.C., for an installation and unveiling at the French ambassador’s residence, where it will reside until 2031.

Photo courtesy CMA-CGM

The statue boarded the CMA CGM TOSCA in Le Havre on June 19. It was placed in a specially designed plexiglass case before being loaded into a dedicated, CMA CGM branded shipping container. It traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching New York harbor on June 30th.

A 20-foot TRAC chassis transported the container with the statue from APM Terminal to Ellis Island. The same chassis will be used to transport the statue from New York to Washington, D.C. TRAC is honored to be a part of this historic project supporting CMA CGM’s transport of a bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Photos courtesy CMA-CGM. Learn more about the Lady Liberty’s Little Sister’s journey by visiting CMA-CGM at
https://www.cmacgm-group.com/en/news-medias/lady-libertys-little-sister-leaving-paris-to-visit-nyc-washington-dc

The statue, completed in 2009, is an exact replica of the original 1878 plaster model from Lady Liberty’s sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. It is a gift of thanks from the French to the United States to recognize the positive relationship between the two countries. The larger statue was given to the U.S. by France as a gift and was completed and assembled in 1886.

The loaning and installation of “little sister” in the U.S. is being hailed as a further sign of Franco-American friendship and the opening of a new era in relations between the countries.