Forstinning, Germany-headquartered crane rental, sales and service company BKL Baukran Logistik used a Liebherr MK 88-4.1E self-erecting mobile construction crane to place large scaffolding sections over historic fountains in the Ludwig II of Bavaria palace gardens, on the island of Herrenchiemsee, Lake Chiemsee, Germany.
The scaffolding is installed each winter to protect the ornamental fountains from possible snow and ice damage.
The crane was transported to the island via ferry. Once at the job site the crane used 25 metres of its 45-metre-long foldable horizontal jib to assemble the large-format components.
The crane was repositioned once between the two fountain complexes. The change of location took around half-an-hour.
Once the scaffolding structures had been erected the crane lifted the large plastic tarpaulins into place.
“Compared to a small mobile crane, the MK 88-4.1E offers us a significantly greater hook height,” says Christian Hofmann, project manager at the scaffolding company Westermaier. “In combination with trolley travel, the scaffolding components can be lowered precisely over the delicate figure fountains, which are up to 13 metres high, and navigated even more easily on long slings than with a conventional, luffing telescopic boom.”
According to Liebherr, the raised cab of the MK 88-4.1E proved particularly helpful for the precise positioning of the loads. From a height of around 20 metres, crane operator Drago had an excellent view of the scaffolders at work. He was further assisted by the hook camera attached to the trolley, which transmitted a vertical view of the hook block and load directly to the monitor in the cab. This, said Liebherr, allowed the components to be guided with centimetre precision according to the fitters’ instructions.
By late afternoon, the work was completed and the two large fountain installations were fully wrapped up for winter. After the boom had been folded away fully automatically, the mobile construction crane left the island via ferry again.
