February 2014 | Page 3 of 3

Two cooperating xcmg crawler cranes

Recently, XCMG’s two giant crawler cranes of 4,000-tonnage and 1,000-tonnage cooperated under the vast blue sky of Ningxia, and extended booms like two cranes wing to fly. They slowly hoisted a tank of 1,900 tons, precisely delivered it to the specified position, and perfectly finished hoisting task again.

At Ningxia Coal Industry Group’s chemical product production base in Ningdong Town, Yinchuan City, the main crane of XGC88000 used operating condition of boom of 84 meters and multiplying factor of 88, while the XGC16000 crawler crane for tail flip-slip used operating condition of boom of 42 meters and multiplying factor of 48. The two ‘brothers’ of XCMG closely cooperated and worked flexibly, and successfully hoisted the tank to the specified position within only about 2 hours, which reflected the immense power of XCMG’s products as treasures of the country.

As the world’s largest-tonnage crane, XCMG’s 4,000-tonnage crawler crane made loads of achievements in Ningxia after finishing its first task perfectly in Yantai. The crawler crane had completely finished hoisting tasks of 8 important tanks of the project within only 4 months. A series of successful hoisting cases demonstrated the safe, reliable and effective product performance of XCMG’s cranes, and highlighted the ruggedness, durability and outstanding flexibility of XCMG’s products. According to person in charge of the project, ‘thanks to the perfect performance of XCMG’s super tonnage crawler crane, the project finished over 1 month ahead of schedule, which gained precious time for the engineering later.’

Terex all terrain cranes finish hydro powerplant maintenance

Nantes-based Sogecofa, part of the Mediaco Group, used three Terex all terrain cranes to service the Kembs lock on the Grand Canal of Alsace, France. The lock provides power for a hydroelectric station and needed a gate replacing. A Terex AC 350, an AC 500-2 and an AC 700 were used to move the gate, which was 26m wide, 18m tall and weighed 500t.

The rental firm explained that as the lock gate was surrounded by water positioning the cranes for a coordinated tandem lift was impossible. The Sogecofa team decided that the only way they could lift the gate pieces was with a crane inside the lock. For this they used the Terex AC 700 to lower and position the AC 500-2 inside the lock.

Due to space constraints each section of the gate was lifted by the three cranes. The section had to be turned on its edge prior to being swiveled around for placement on rails located in the lock. Once swiveled and brought to a close radius the load was hoisted by the AC 500-2 crane alone.

The operators of the two cranes on the lock wall had no direct view of the load and received instructions from the head of maneuvers who was assisted by an observer.

The length of each load exceeded the width of the chamber so rotational movements required great precision to avoid any impact which could have halted the entire operation.

The same operation was repeated four times. On the last crane maneuver there was just a 20cm margin remaining between the load and the control building of the lock.

Two all terrain cranes delivered by Grove

Germany’s biggest crane operator, the Schmidbauer Group, has added two Grove all-terrain cranes to its fleet.

The company took delivery of a 300 tonne capacity GMK6300L and 100 tonne capacity GMK4100L. The company says it chose Grove because of their impressive capacity with exceptional reach and have weight-saving features that comply with Germany’s strict road laws.

“Grove not only makes strong cranes with very long booms but they innovate to save weight, making their cranes easier to transport all over Germany,” said Werner Schmidbauer, chief executive of Schmidbauer. “Our two new cranes feature aluminium wheels, which mean we can travel to job sites with more equipment and counterweight, saving time and hassle. They will make a great addition to our fleet.”

Dieter Popp, regional sales manager at Manitowoc, added: “Road laws are getting stricter in Germany, so our customers want lighter cranes that don’t compromise capacity. Our weight-saving wheels give our Grove cranes a distinct advantage in the market.”

The GMK4100L which features a 60 metre main boom is based in Schmidbauer’s Deggendorf branch in south-east Germany, while the GMK6300L is based at the company’s headquarters in Unterschleissheim, near Munich.

Founded in 1932, the Schmidbauer Group operates a fleet of 250 mobile cranes, which offer capacities of up to 1,250 tonnes. The company operates from 20 sites across Germany and employs 600 people.

Liebherr harbour cranes profitable in 2013

Crane manufacturer Liebherr said mobile harbour cranes played a significant role in the overall success of the Liebherr Maritime Cranes division in 2013.

Close to 80 mobile harbour cranes were delivered around the world in 2013, helping generate a turnover of EUR 280 million (US$ 378 million).

The 2013 figures were helped by a number of major orders for the 600 series in Latin America and the launch of the Liebherr Maritime Cranes simulator range, a company spokesperson said. In 2013 twelve units of the Liebherr type LHM 600 were sold in the Latin American market, including three barge slewing (LBS) cranes.

Other areas that helped the success was Liebherr’s LiSIM simulator-based crane driver training, a company spokesperson added. The maritime crane simulators are used to help improve port safety and productivity. Crane types that can be simulated include, mobile harbour cranes, ship to shore, rubber tyred gantry and offshore cranes. (See IC August 2013 issue page 45 for more information).

Liebherr has an order backlog worth EUR 150 million ($203 million), a figure it said is much higher than in 2012.

Grove GMK6400 all terrain crane delivered

German heavy lifting and haulage company MSG Krandienst has taken delivery of the first 400 tonne Grove GMK6400 All Terrain crane in Germany.

The GMK6400 features a single superstructure mounted engine with ‘MegaDrive’ hydrostatic drive train, 60 metre main boom and self-rigging Mega Wing Lift attachment. The unit joins MSG’s fleet of 35 cranes and will be used for heavy lifts at shipyards, refineries and power plants as well as wind farm maintenance and construction. Manitowoc claims it is the strongest six-axle crane on the market.

Andreas Werner of Grove’s dealer KranAgentur Werner, said: “We want to give customers the world’s most advanced equipment that enables them to complete a huge variety of jobs quickly and effectively. Grove’s GMK6400 is the next step in six-axle crane technology. MSG’s new crane has proved itself at several projects already, and there is a long list of jobs lined up for it in the future.”

Founded in 1993 MSG Krandienst operates from branches in Kehl, Kappel-Grafenhausenm and Teningen with a fleet of cranes topped by a recently purchased 750 tonne Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1.

Fatal lift accident in South Africa

A man using a trailer mounted platform in Cape Town, South Africa died when it is thought the boom collapsed.

The 31 year old man – an employee of City Flag company – was putting up flags advertising next week’s State of the Nation address by president Jacob Zuma’s in the city.

There are very few confirmed details at the moment, but police said that the man died after the boom collapsed, throwing him head-first into the street.
More information will be added when available.