crawler crane Archives | Page 10 of 11

Mammoet use Liebherr LR 13000’s PowerBoom

Mammoet has used the 3000t Liebherr LR 13000 crawler crane on the installation of legs of the 940t 87m long Aeolus jack-up vessel. The parallel boom of the LR 13000, referred to as PowerBoom was used for this for the first time on the job in Bremerhaven, Germany.

The vessel had been towed to Bremerhaven in order for the four jack-up legs to be installed. The job was the first time the LR 13000 had been equipped with the PowerBoom. This means the double lattice mast booms extend over a length of 48m in parallel to one another. The function is designed to give the crane greater stability and increase the load capacity by about 50% compared to the standard boom, out to a reach of about 35m.

The work on the jack-up vessel started with what the manufacturer described as the most technically challenging lift. The first leg had to be installed through the structure of the heavy-load crane on the “Aeolus”. Together with a floating crane, Matador 3, the LR 13000 lifted the steel tube off its transport barge, aligned it vertically and transferred it all the way across. With its 65t hook block and fastening equipment the crawler crane was lifting a gross load of more than 1000t at a reach of 23m.

Using large pulley blocks, the pipe was turned into the correct position whilst being lowered. Mammoet had a hydraulic fastening system developed especially for this order. Once the stilts had been installed, the “spud cans” were fitted; these huge feet were intended to allow the working vessel to stand securely on the seabed later on. These elements weigh 180t and were lowered onto the base of the dock basin before the ship was positioned over them. Industrial divers then secured the feet to the bottom ends of the pipes using fastening equipment pulled upwards by the crawler crane through the jack-up legs.

Mammoet crawler installs legs on ship

Mammoet has used its LR13000 to install four platform legs on Van Oord’s newest wind turbine installation vessel, the Aeolus.

The crane was assembled at Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, Germany. Four 87m long steel platform legs each weighing 920t already settled into their jacking position on the 139m long and 38m wide vessel.

For the job Mammoet designed, fabricated and delivered tailor-made top lifting tools and a tailing frame to ensure that the legs, that have no lifting points could be hoisted securely.

In addition to the platform legs, Mammoet also installed four spudcans, using a special engineering method. The method involved placing the partly rigged spudcans on the seabed, moving the Aeolus over it and connecting the spudcan with the leg with the use of cranes and divers.

LR1300 crawler’s complex cement lift

Indian firm Bhoir Group used its 300t Liebherr LR 1300 crawler crane to complete a complex lift at a cement plant in Chattisgarh, India. The crane was hoisted 8.3t with an 86m main boom, 89m luffing jib and derrick with 50t of suspended counterweight. The lift was carried out at a radius of 53m and the load was placed at a height of 118m.

The rental firm said that without the LR 1300 a bigger crane would have been needed to execute the lift, thus requiring more space and causing higher costs. The Bhoir Group has four LR 1300 crawler cranes and has used them for several high-rise and heavy lift erections.

The manufacturer said that it believes that the main boom and luffing jib combinations available on the LR 1300 made the crane a one of a kind when it came to work in power plants, steel plants, cement plants, petrochemical plants and all other types of erection works. The crane can be fitted with a maximum of 98m of main boom, a maximum of 113m of luffing jib and various fixed jibs including windmill fixed jibs of 7m and 8m.

Terex cranes publish poor results for 2013

Terex Cranes has published a poor set of results for 2013, with lower sales and profits.

Total revenue for the year was $1.93 billion over three percent lower than in 2012, while operating income slipped over 35 percent to $110.5 million.

The fourth quarter was even worse, with revenues sliding six percent to $480.4 million and operating income plummeting by more than 52 percent to $25.7 million. The order book at year end did improve a little over the quarter, but ended the year down 22 percent at $501.2 million.

The Material Handling and Port Services division had a poor year, but posted a very strong fourth quarter and ended the year with a strong order book, up almost 40 percent compared to the end of 2012.

The Terex group as a whole saw revenues remain flat, up just over a percent to $7.08 billion, although the fourth quarter saw growth of 12 percent, and pre-tax profits for the 12 months more than doubled to $291.3 million. Net debt at the end of the period was down marginally at $1.95 billion.

Chief executive Ron DeFeo said: “Overall, 2013 was a good year and I am pleased with the improvements and progress underway at Terex. This past year was a tale of two halves, with the second half of the year significantly stronger than the first half. Our performance in the second half was fueled by the continued strength of our Aerial Work Platforms segment and a turnaround in Materials Handling & Port Solutions. Our focus throughout the year on strengthening margins and driving financial efficiency helped deliver a strong close to the year.”

“Operationally, aerial work platforms is continuing to benefit from strong North American rental demand plus a noticeable pickup in Latin America and European performance. Additionally, the Materials Processing segment performance remains solid, delivering double digit operating margin in 2013 despite a relatively soft demand environment. Our Cranes segment failed to realise the growth that we had anticipated entering 2013. While new product launches did provide some growth, markets such as Australia, Europe and Latin America were more challenging than anticipated.”

“During 2013, we made investments and implemented actions to set us on a course toward increased profitability in 2014 and beyond. We enter 2014 with optimism around our businesses and expectations to deliver improved financial results. Much of this optimism stems from our continued focus on internal areas of improvement, such as our capital structure initiatives and business simplification, as well as the year over year benefits anticipated from the restructuring efforts undertaken in 2013.”

“Our 2014 guidance reflects the benefits of internal cost initiatives, capital structure improvements and some anticipated net sales growth. We see some signs of improvement in many parts of the world, although this is tempered with some continued market uncertainty, particularly in developing markets. Overall, we believe that the global economy will be stronger in 2014, but still modest when viewed against historic demand levels.”

The Terex crane business continues to struggle, in spite of the overall market being reasonably good in 2013. It has though made numerous changes over the past 18 months or so, some of which should kick-in during 2014.

Its radical approach to new All Terrain product development is likely to gather more followers as the new models become more familiar and legal road configurations become a more critical issue. It will also see some substantial improvements once demand for big crawler cranes picks up, as it surely will.

Sao Paulo stadium collapse statement manufacturer Liebherr

Liebherr has this morning issued a statement on the incident at the end of November at the Itaquerao Stadium in São Paulo, in which a 1,350 tonne capacity LR 11350 crawler crane collapsed killing two site workers.

The statement says that all investigations conducted to date by Liebherr – including those at the accident site – have shown that the LR 11350 crane had no technical defects. It concludes that the ground was unsuitable and unable to carry the weight of the crane and the suspended load.

Because of this the crane sank and the excessive inclined angle caused a massive overloading of the crane and the complete collapse. Liebherr says that an independent, internationally acknowledged crane expert has also come to the same conclusions.

The company says the cause of the accident can be confirmed by subsequent static-load calculations and it assumes that all the reports currently being prepared about the accident will reach a similar conclusion. Analysis of the data logger by Liebherr has shown that it had not been recording data since November 2012 although it points out that the data logger cannot influence the crane functions.

In conclusion it says: “Liebherr is extremely saddened by this tragic accident and the two fatalities, and expresses its deep sympathy to their families. As the crane manufacturer Liebherr continues to do everything in its power to help bring the accident investigation to a speedy and logical conclusion and expects the parties directly involved in the accident to do the same. Liebherr will also continue to cooperate closely with the Brazilian authorities.”

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.’