Europe - Page 3
Stay up to date with the latest Europe updates from the global cranes industryRental points the way In a climate of economic downturn, two tower crane company executives are confident that rental offers better opportunities than sales for tower cranes in Germany, reports Will Dalrymple
Dockside cranes The HafenCity re-development project is currently Europe’s biggest inner-city construction project. Crane manufacturers Liebherr and Wolffkran have more than thirty tower cranes working on the site.
Tall ship cranes Potain and Liebherr have both recently supplied giant tower cranes to shipyards.
Building giants Construction of the first units of Liebherr’s giant MTC 78000 ship crane is progressing well, as guests of the company saw on a tour of its Rostock, Germany, facility. The 78,000tm crane will lift 1,600t to 35m, and 600t at its 70m maximum reach.
Fagioli scales it up It all looks fairly ordinary until you see how tiny the cars and people are. Fagioli was intimately involved in one of the biggest alternative lifting projects ever, on a giant offshore regasification terminal assembled in huge modules in Spain. Will Dalrymple reports
All in a night's work Fagioli used SPMTs to install a motorway bridge in a single night??. Mike Clark reports.
Speed demons ?Customers of the very latest remote controls can now adjust the speed of crane motions themselves, reports Will Dalrymple??
A mutual history May's article 'A history of tower crane remotes' (pp41-2) glossed over an interesting supplier-manufacturer relationship, the 15-year partnership between radio manufacturer HBC-radiomatic and tower crane manufacturer Liebherr-Werk Biberach, both of Germany. As Liebherr rolls out a new generation of radio controls, we examine the companies' shared programme in more detail.
Comansa JIE-Bauma China 2008 Formed of gear manufacturer JIE Holding and Spanish tower crane manufacturer Linden Comansa, Hangzhou Comansa JIE Construction Machinery Co has developed the CJ flat top tower crane series.
Sarens goes to sea At Thorntonbank, 30km off of the coast of Belgium, Sarens is installing six 5MW wind turbines. Before it could place the 120m-high towers, lead contractor DEME had to carry out six 2,800t bases and lower them to the sea bed. Will Dalrymple reports
Fassitec leads Swiss knuckleboom market The Fassi Group has been on the Swiss crane market for over 30 years, with a significant market share that is currently around 20%. The important position held in Switzerland by the Italian knuckleboom loader crane manufacturer, is also due to the choice of partners, as is the case of Fassitec, which is today run by Thomas Notter.
Self-erectors outside Italy There are more self-erector manufacturers in Italy than anywhere else in the world. SAIE, in Bologna, this autumn will provide a great chance to see more from the Italians. In the meantime, non-Italian manufacturers continue to improve transport, and introduce telescoping elements in relatively low-capacity cranes, report Phil Bishop and Will Dalrymple.
All in Aarhus HMF introduced a new range of mid capacity knuckleboom cranes to the press, at a factory tour in early July. Will North reports
African towers lean on Germany Liebherr Biberach head office plans tower park for 2010 World Cup stadium
Paris match General contractors Vinci, Hines, Icade Capri and Nexity and a public-private consortium are working side by side, building apartments, offices, schools and shops in metropolitan Paris's largest brownfield site, the former Renault car factory in Boulogne-Billancourt, Will Dalrymple reports
London climber Since a Wolff 320BF killed three erectors when it collapsed during climbing in London's Canary Wharf business district in 2000, only two companies in the UK have regularly rented tower cranes that need to be jacked up with a climbing frame: Harrington Tower Cranes and Select Plant Hire. Now a third company has joined them, Will Dalrymple reports.
Colour coded Airbus Filton uses 10,000 separate items of loose equipment, many of which leave the site for long periods. Rigging manager Jason Sutton faced a challenge to make sure all of this equipment can be properly tracked. Will North reports
Pull together Gebr. Markewitsch has built a successful business specialising in plant installations. As part of the MultiLift group, it has access to an extensive range of lifting and transport equipment. Will North spoke to joint managing director Robert Markewitsch.
Working under the hook Last month, John Spanswick, chairman of the UK's Strategic Forum for Construction, challenged crane operators to design worksites so that tower cranes never lift loads over workers (Cranes Today February pp21-2). Select Plant's Ken Turner, lifting operations manager at the new Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport, responds to the proposal.
Safety leaders John Spanswick, the chairman of global construction contractor Bovis Lend Lease, heads the UK's Strategic Forum for Construction, which last year set up a tower crane working group. He and Shelley Atkinson-Frost, safety manager for UK crane customer association the Major Contractors Group, speak to Will Dalrymple about the process of improving the tower crane industry from all sides.
