Crane industry news Archives | Page 7 of 37

4 LHMs for Katoen Natie

International logistics provider and port operator Katoen Natie has taken delivery of four Liebherr mobile harbour cranes.

Two LHM 600s and a LHM 550 have been delivered to the company’s port in Antwerp, while a LGM 420 has been delivered to its port in Radicatel, France. Manufactured by Liebherr Maritime Cranes in Rostock, the LHM 600s has a maximum lifting capacity of 208 tonnes and an outreach of up to 58 metres. Installed with Liebherr’s Sycratronic software, the company can now carry out tandem lifts of up to 416 tonnes.

The LHM 550 is equipped with the unique Pactronic hybrid power booster, which improves turnover capacity by up to 30 percent as well as reducing fuel/energy consumption and exhaust emissions by as much. The LHM 420 is Liebherr’s latest model and provides an outreach of 48 metres and a maximum lifting capacity of 124 tonnes.

Joos Melis, Katoen Natie commercial director, said: “Thanks to our two new LHM 600s we have expanded our portfolio and are now capable of lifting loads as heavy as 416 tonnes, which is unique in Belgium. We are very optimistic that these state-of-the-art giants in combination with our long-term experience in safe and efficient cargo handling will attract new customers.”

500 tonner for Hüffermann

German crane rental company Hüffermann Krandienst has ordered a 500 tonne Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 All Terrain crane.

The eight axle LTM 1500-8.1 features a seven section, 84 metre main boom and a 91 metre luffing fly jib, providing a 142 metre maximum under hook height and 108 metre maximum working radius.

Based in Wildeshausen, Hüffermann Krandienst operates a fleet of more than 40 Liebherr mobile cranes, currently topped by a 350 tonne Liebherr LTM 1350-6.1 All Terrain crane, which it took delivery of last year. The company also has a trailer manufacturing division – Hüffermann Transportsysteme – which produces up to 1,000 trailers a year.

Sarens lifts Boeing for Comair

Sarens South Africa lifted a Boeing 737-300 passenger aircraft for South African aviation company Comair.

The aircraft was lifted from the OR Tambo International Airport, across the R21 highway in Kempton Park, to the Comair training centre, where the Boeing 737-300 will be used as a real-life evacuation trainer.

The plane is 33.35 metres long, 18 m wide and 5 m high and a dead weight of 25 tonnes. Its engines had been removed and portions of the wings and tail had been clipped. To lift the aircraft to its new location, Sarens used a Liebherr LTM 1400, a Terex AC 500 and a Terex AC 200 wheeled mobile telescopic all terrain cranes.The lift was carried out overnight to allow several main roads to be closed.

Marius Cilliers, Sarens South Africa country manager, said, “The stakes were high. Our specialized engineering and rigging teams defined the most time- and cost- effective solution, making sure the road closures were kept to a minimum and all safety and quality standards were met. Successfully lifting the Boeing and safely relocating it to its new home was the result of months of planning and collaboration with many stakeholders involved.”

Glen Warden, Comair commercial operations manager, said, “This operation is the first ever of its sort in South Africa, probably even in Africa. The project co-ordination between the various parties has been paramount. Especially the professionalism and operational excellence shown by the Sarens team is something to behold. Whenever you see a large Sarens crane at any site around the world, people should know how much of a specialist job this is.”

The new training centre will be built around the aircraft.

New Tadano for Quinto

UK crane rental company Quinto Crane Hire has taken delivery of a 130 tonne Tadano ATF 130G-5 All Terrain crane.

The five axle machine features a 60 metre main boom plus an 18 metre bi-fold swingaway extension. The all wheel steer crane can carry up to 21.7 tonnes of counterweight on the road, within the UK’s STGO category C, and comes with heavy duty 3.8 metre off-settable extension, capable of lifting up to 40 tonnes. Intended for refinery work the crane has also been fitted with AMOT engine shutdown valves.

Quinto owner Oliver Arnold, who took over the company last October, said: “We looked closely at the range of 130 tonne machines on the market. We chose the Tadano based on performance and specification. This crane adds to the ATF 90G-4 we already run in the fleet and the early impressions have been such that we have ordered another unit.”

Quinto has a fleet of cranes and aerial work platforms operating from seven depots servicing East Anglia, the East Midlands and Greater London. It has also recently added a demolition and dismantling division.

Terex acquires Dueco

Terex has acquired most of the assets of Dueco -Terex Utilities largest distributor and mounting company. Wisconsin based Dueco is responsible for
Terex Utilities sales and service across 17 states.

Details of the transaction have not yet been released, nor specific merger strategies, but it looks as though Terex Services will add the additional product support coverage to its existing network, which could be used to help support other group products, such as those made by Genie.

Dueco was founded by Pete Dalum in 1955 and and was renamed Dalum’s Utility Equipment Company in the 1970s – thus DUECo. It is almost unique among larger companies in the sector in that it is female owned and run. It has expanded its business rapidly in recent years and was appointed as a Fassi dealer in 2011. In May last year Terex added Wyoming and Montana to its territory. Terex statement said: “Customers will benefit further from the unified team working with a streamlined sales and service pipeline with a more focused approach and expanded solutions”.

Dueco chief executive Judie Taylor, whose family started the business, added: “We are very glad to be an integral component of Terex now. Dueco’s philosophy has always been to focus on our customers and our team, with a passionate desire to take care of both. Our customers will benefit from the vertical integration and seamless depth of expertise with our combined teams to support customers nationwide and even globally”.

“Our team members, some of whom have been with us for decades, will be able to grow and prosper as Terex grows within the electric utility market. Historically, the Terex and Dueco team members have been working on parallel paths to support the customers in the marketplace. It is a natural synergy, and we are excited that the collaboration of the combined teams, and the breadth and depth of their knowledge-base, will be unsurpassed in the industry! We are ready to build and grow the Terex brand.”

Terex Utilities general manager Don Anderson said: “Dueco has been a major part of our business for the past 55 years. We are very happy to have the opportunity to bring their entrepreneurial spirit and customer responsiveness into our organisation. This acquisition shows our commitment to continue to invest in bringing better solutions to our customers in the global utility and services markets. We’re eager to move forward and continue to build on our recent growth while helping our customers to succeed.”

Scott Hensel general manager of Terex Services added: “By bringing Terex and Dueco together, Terex Services now has a national footprint with over 700 technicians and 56 service centre locations. This brings even more value to our customers and allows us to expand our Equipment Services solutions within the Utilities and Aerial markets by developing a stronger presence in the Midwest and Northeast regions.”

GH Johnson adds Kobelco crawler cranes

UK crane rental company GH Johnson Crane Hire has bought two new CKE800G crawler cranes from Kobelco Cranes Europe.

Adding the 80 tonne capacity lattice boom units increases the Kobelco count in Johnson’s fleet to 18 units. The five added in the last 12 months were three CKE1350G and two CKE1100G crawlers.

Paul Johnson, GH Johnson Crane Hire managing director, said, “In total, we will have upwards of 70,000 hours experience with Kobelco crawler cranes and have never had a serious breakdown or mechanical fault.”

Demand is strong in the UK for crawler cranes, Johnson said. The fleet is busy on jobs all over the country working on projects from hotels, schools and sports stadia to bridges, tunnels, flood prevention works and shaft construction. “At the moment, we have several Kobelco Cranes working on both the Crossrail tunnelling work and the National Grid London network upgrade and a couple of others working on water treatment and flood prevention jobs.”

Engines in the G series cranes comply with European Union Stage IIIB (Tier 4i) exhaust emission regulations. They have diesel particulate filters (DPFs) and exhaust gas cleaning systems to minimise harmful emissions of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

Delivery of both new units will be in April.