Manitowoc Cranes Archives | Page 4 of 6

First MLC165 for Mexico’s plastic industry

A Manitowoc MLC165 heavy-duty crawler crane has been sold into the Mexican market for the first time, to service the country’s growing petrochemical industry.

The 165t crane was purchased by rental company Grúas Villarreal for the Ethylene XXI plastic production project, set to begin in early 2015 and due to produce more than 1m t of polyethylene annually.

General manager Cynthia Villarreal said: “We know we can depend on Manitowoc cranes for complex projects such as the Ethylene XXI. The MLC165 was the best candidate because it’s a crane that’s quick to set up and can work on all sorts of lifting jobs.”

Villarreal also purchased a 600t Manitowoc 18000 crawler crane — now the highest-capacity crane in Villarreal’s fleet.

Grove cranes powering LGN construction

Australian crane company Universal Cranes is using two 120t Grove RT9130E-2 rough terrain cranes to build an on-shore LGN (liquefied natural gas) facility in Darwin, northern Australia.

The cranes, which are regularly operating with their full boom length of 48m, arrived at the construction site at the start of 2014 after being transported 3,500km across the country. They will continue installing an underground network of piping and equipment for at least the next two years, working for Leighton Contractors.

The development, which is now more than 50% complete, is called the Ichthys project and combines an off-shore facility and an 889km-long gas pipeline, as well as the on-shore LNG plant. The project is being managed by a joint venture between the main contractors GC Corporation, KBR and Chiyoda Corporation, and is estimated to cost more than A$10bn (US$8.8bn).

The cranes feature Grove’s Full Vision cab, designed to offer cool and dry working conditions in a site location where humidity regularly reaches 83% and monthly rainfall exceeds 420mm.

Nick Morris, engineering and sales manager at Universal Cranes, said: “Our Grove units are known for their ease-of-use, but their rugged design and durability are also key. This job site is a mix of heat, sand and sea – the cranes must endure the lot. And we are happy to report that they are performing admirably.”

Crane Rental bolsters fleet with five new cranes

Crane Rental Corporation, based in Orlando, Florida, has further expanded its fleet with the purchase of five cranes.

The company added a 275t Manitowoc 999 crawler crane; a 230t Link-Best LS-298 crawler; two 130t Grove RT9130E hydraulic rough-terrain cranes; and an 80t Grove RT880E hydraulic rough-terrain crane.

The move was made in response to “increasing demand in almost every sector of our industry”, said company president Alan Ashlock.

Crane Rental had already expanded its fleet this year, purchasing cranes including a Peiner SK415 tower; a 660t Manitowoc 18000 crawler; a 600t Terex AC 500-2 all-terrain hydraulic truck crane; and a 275t Grove GMK 5275 all-terrain hydraulic truck crane.

BKL adds second GMK6300L to its fleet

German crane rental company BKL Baukran Logistik has added a second Grove GMK6300L all terrain crane to its fleet.

Manufactured by Manitowoc, the first 300t GMK6300L purchased by BKL completed 1,500 working hours in a year, leading to the German company’s addition of a second unit.

The GMK6300L is based in Frankfurt and is used primarily for inner-city job sites where space is limited, and for erecting and dismantling tower cranes.

Based at Forstinning, near Munich, BKL has a fleet of more than 330 tower cranes and almost 40 mobile cranes.

GMK6300L assists with children’s hospital project

A 300t Grove GMK6300L all terrain crane has been used to install five air handling units on the roof of a nine-storey building at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.

UK-based City Lifting lifted the 4t units at a radius of 54m using only the crane’s main boom, as the limited space in central London prevented the company from rigging a fly jib.

To reach the site of the children’s hospital the crane also had to navigate a hole which had been dug in the adjoining access road.

The lifts, which represented the first time City Lifting had used its GMK6300L, were completed in a day.

CRC in underwater crane rescue

A Manitowoc crane that slipped off a bank into 70ft of water has been successfully rescued by Florida-based Crane Rental Corporation (CRC) in a tandem lift.

CRC used a Manitowoc 2250 crawler crane with MAX-ER attachment (500t capacity) and a 600t Terex AC 500-2 hydraulic truck crane to lift the submerged Manitowoc 4600 dragline. The total weight lifted was 484,000 pounds.

CRC had to supply pre-lift plans and submit them to the Mining Safety and Health Administration for approval. It also supplied a lift director, skilled riggers and certified crane operators for the job.

The company has performed nearly a dozen recoveries after similar accidents and has engineered specialised rigging for such projects.

Engineers assessed the machine and had to predict the components’ stored energy before divers cut the boom, mast and heavy-duty wire rope. Underwater cameras and communications were essential as the divers’ exposure had to be limited at the depth.