Visitors to Bauma this month – or at least those who arrived by air – will not have failed to notice the large number of tower cranes at Munich’s Franz Josef Strauß International Airport, where contractors ARGE Müller & Altvatter and Wayss & Freytag are building a second terminal.
The contractors are using 10 Liebherr tower cranes of their own and have brought in a further 11 Wolff cranes on hire from the Heilbronn depot of MAN Wolffkran’s rental fleet. As part of MAN Wolffkran’s contract, it is also responsible for erecting all 21 cranes on site and dismantling them after completion of the project, as well as providing full service and maintenance support. Wolffkran has committed itself to a 24-hour service guarantee to ensure that all 21 cranes are kept fully operational during the whole of the nine month construction phase.
A total of 210,000m3 of concrete and 38,500t of reinforcing steel will be used for the project, which is scheduled for completion by November 2001.
Of the Wolff cranes on site, the 5520, the 6522, the 7031 and the 262 are equipped with trolley jibs and have ratings in the range of 125tm to 250tm.
Three of the Wolff tower cranes – two 7031 FLs and one 6522 FL – are mounted on tracks for construction of the main terminal building. The cranes’ mobility will allow flexible operation on the various sections of the project.
This project demonstrates how Wolffkran has responded to the downturn in the fortunes of German tower crane manufacturers by widening the scope of its business to rental and servicing. Rental demand for tower cranes has risen as new purchases by contractors have fallen. Contractors also increasingly want a single source of supply and service, Wolffkran has found. As well as Heilbronn, Wolffkran has rental depots in Berlin and Dortmund, and since the start of construction on the airport’s new Terminal 2, Wolffkran has opened a depot in Munich. It has also opened a field office in Dresden. In total, it has a rental fleet of more than 550 top slewing tower cranes, including luffing as well as trolley jib types.
