Liebherr Cranes Archives | Page 6 of 13

Liebherr confirms 1% decline

Liebherr has said that it excepts to achieve total revenues of €8.87 billion in 2014, one percent below that achieved in 2013.

The decline, as reported in November, is due almost entirely to lower shipments in mining equipment business. Mobile crane shipments will be close to last year’s levels, when 1,416 new cranes were delivered, while revenues will be slightly higher. Sales of marine cranes are 20 percent higher.

Geographically the group did well in Western Europe where revenues increased significantly, while Africa and the Americas were flat and the Far East, Australia and the Middle East saw declines.

For 2015 the group is forecasting that revenues will increase as it benefits from anticipated global growth of 3.8 percent.

First Power Boom on an LR11000

The first Liebherr LR 11000 to be fitted with a Power Boom attachment has gone to work in Germany.

The 1,000 tonne crane used the new P.Boom for the first time to place a large turbine house, weighing almost 220 tonnes onto a tower near Cuxhaven in North Germany.

The 6.2 MW pilot system was erected by Senvion (previously REpower) in the new test field for offshore wind turbines. Crane company Nolte decided to use a Liebherr LR 11000 crawler crane owned by Austrian based Felbermayr, while supplying the assist cranes from its own fleet.

The LR 11000 was shipped to Bremerhaven from the Romanian port of Konstanza after completing its first lift at a refinery near Bucharest. It was then transported to the site and fitted with the new boom.The crane was ready to start lifting seven days after its arrival on site. It was rigged with a hook height of 147 metres. Sections from the crane’s luffing jib are used within the double lattice section of the main power boom. The standard main boom sections are then used to create a heavy luffing jib. This configuration provides a 50 percent increase in critical lift capacities on the jib.

Klaus Ruhland, a Felbermayr project planner speaking of the lift, said: “Normally a 1,350 tonne Liebherr LR 11350 or a Terex CC 8800 would have been required for this lift. The 220 tonne load, had to be lifted to a height of 130 metres at a radius of 30 metres. Just for comparison, without the PowerBoom, it would only have been able to manage around 160 tonnes at this height and radius”.

The massive turbine is driven by a three blade rotor with a 152 metre diameter which was fully pre-assembled on the ground before being lifted into place.

The crane was rigged with 78 metres of Power Boom, a 66 metre luffing jib and a 42 metre derrick boom. A total of 590 tonnes of ballast was used, including a 50 tonne central counterweight, 220 tonnes of superstructure counterweight and a 320 tonne suspended counterweight.

Crane slips into ditch

A three axle All Terrain crane overturned earlier this month on a remote road in Scotland.

The crane, a 55 tonne Liebherr All Terrain crane owned by Ainscough Crane Hire, was travelling down the narrow track when it appears to have got to close to the edge of road, slipped into the verge/ditch and rolled into the brush.

Fortunately no one was injured in the incident.

Liebherr to build on Indian tower crane success

A central attraction on Liebherr’s bC India stand is the company’s 85 EC-B 5i flat-top tower crane. The model is manufactured at the company’s factory in Pune, India and has been designed for the specific needs of the local market. The model is only available in India.

The unit has a maximum capacity of 5 tonnes and can lift 1.3 tonnes at the end of a 50 m maximum length jib. However, it sits on a footprint of just 1.2 x 1.2 m, and the company says this combination of high capacity on a small cross-section makes it ideal for the confined construction sites often found in Indian cities.

The 85 EC-B 5i has been manufactured in Pune since 2012, and Liebherr said it was developing a second crane at the factory for the Indian market, based on the success of this first model.

At present, a number of 85 EC-B 5i Flat-Top cranes are at work in India, and the company said key locations included Pune, Delhi, Mangalore and Mumbai, where the ability to climb upwards inside as well as outside under-construction buildings was an advantage.

In Noida, an 85 EC-B 5i is currently in use as internal climbing crane on the “Amadeus” project where a building with 36 floors is due for completion by the end of 2016. In the final stage of the project, the 85 EC-B 5i will reach a hook height of more than 130 m.

Another project is Panchshil Towers in Wagholi, Pune. This residential building project covers an area of 17 acres. The 85 EC-B 5i is used as internal climbing crane for works at the highest building and will reach its maximum hook height of some 110 m.

Germany’s Reutlingen fire brigade rescue crane

Germany’s Reutlingen fire brigade has taken delivery of a 70 tonne Liebherr LTM 1070-4.2 fire and rescue crane designed for emergency operations.

The new crane has been fitted with a range of fire service and safety equipment such as emergency lights, sirens, electrically adjustable floodlights and a reversing camera. It has also been fitted with an eight tonne recovery winch on the rear of the crane as well as special storage boxes.

Similar to the standard LTM 1070-4.2 All Terrain crane in terms of performance, it offers 12 tonne axle loads, with 10.2 tonnes of counterweight on board as well as the bi-fold swingaway boom extension and hook blocks. As well as offering good off-road capability and manoeuvrability due to its all-wheel drive and active rear axle steering, the crane has also been supplied with Liebherr’s VarioBase outrigger set up system.

The crane will be used to cover road traffic accidents involving large vehicles, for rescuing people, for hoisting loads and for securing actions at after explosions or structure collapses.

Reutlingen Brigade Service commander, Harald Hermann, said: “The modern machine is needed by the fire brigade to meet the increased requirements for technical rescues. It replaces a 24 year old 30 tonne model which was no longer economical due to its high repair costs and frequent breakdowns. What is more, it no longer satisfied the increased requirements, particularly those relating to the higher weights of trucks.”

Liebherr has delivered more than 100 fire and rescue cranes throughout Europe over the past 40 years, with capacities of between 25 and 70 tonnes.

Crane into the void in France

A self-erecting mobile tower crane overturned onto the roof of a famous hotel/restaurant in France on Monday, after one of its outriggers punched through the tarmac drive into an underground void.

Thankfully no one was hurt in the incident and the crane operator was well away from the crane at the time, operating it via the remote controls, which is just as well, as it looks as though the elevating operators cab took most of the impact and was buried in the roof.

We do not know if mats were used to spread the load on what are clearly uncertain ground conditions, with a strong likelihood of voids. The other photos we have seen suggest that some basic cribbing was employed.

The crane a Liebherr MK owned by local crane company S.E Levage, was working on the refurbishment of the historic Abbaye de Talloires on Lake Annency, in the Haute Savoie region of France. The establishment has been closed since November for a major refurbishment which included work on the roof which had only recently been completed.

When the crane’s fall was stopped suddenly, the tower buckled and crashed into the roof, while the jib came down into the car park. The crane company quickly arrived on the scene and using an integrated loader crane platform to reach the jib cut it free from the tower, before tackling the tower.