In applications that require very high lifting capacities, end users have for a long time faced a limited choice. Few cranes could lift more than 1,500t, and alternative solutions such as jacking required extensive engineering work that could impact on a job site’s ability to keep working while a lift was planned. While strand jacking has become overwhelmingly popular for very heavy lifts (see Cranes Today November 2006 pp21-29), can lift even higher loads than these heaviest of cranes, and can be used to pull skidded loads, as well as lifting, these engineering demands mean that it is not suitable for every job.
For many years, the only truly mobile lifting device able to be walked into a site—rather than a ringer system that needs to be built in place—and to work at these capacities was the Lampson Transi-Lift. In a few weeks though, it will be joined by a new very high capacity crane from Terex-Demag, the CC 8800 Twin.
Bryan Pepin-Donat, director contracts/international business, Lampson International, describes the development of the Transi-Lift: “Lampson has been in business for over sixty years. Neil and Billie Jane Lampson founded the company, and built up the fleet. Their son, Bill Lampson, took over as president of Lampson International in 1986. Currently, as well as manufacturing the Transi-Lift, Lampson has a rental fleet of around 350, mainly Manitowoc, cranes, and offices in Houston, Denver, Phoenix, Calgary (in Canada), and a big operation in Australia.”
“In the early 1960s, Neil Lampson tried to take advantage of the structural capacity of crawler cranes by displacing the counterweight. In conventional cranes, you are limited by the tipping limit of the crane. By moving the counterweight back, you can make use of the full structural capacity. The first, proof of concept, version for the patent used a crawler crane, with the counterweight on a truck crane.
“On a conventional crane, the counterweight might be 10ft off of the centre line. On the Transi-Lifts the counterweight is mounted on a crawler transporter, and the stinger length can be varied from 80ft to 140ft.” This allows the configfuration to fit the site.
Lampson hasn’t just tried to build a crane that can lift very heavy, headline-grabbing, loads at a point close to the crane, but one that can then carry these loads out to extended radii. Pepin-Donat says, “The maximum capacity of the cranes is governed by their structural capacity, by the parts of line and available conterweight. With twin load blocks, we can lift up to 2,600 US tons.
“One very important thing to consider is to look at the load curve, not just the load chart. The Transi-Lift, with 122m boom has 97% of their maximum capacity at half of their maximum radius. At 75% of the max radius the Transi-Lift still has 63% of its capacity in this configuration. With 104m boom this goes up to 100% of maximum capacity at half of their the maximum radius. On some cranes, the load curve is very steep—it drops sharply early, before levelling out to the right. On the Transi-Lift, the curve goes out straight to the right a long way, before dropping.”
The first, 1,000 US ton, Transi-Lift was built in 1977/78, and went straight to a job on a nuclear power plant in Hanford. Pepin-Donat says, “It was the first crane that allowed plant components to be lifted in over the top of the containment building. Previously, plant components were taken through the side of the containment, and then lifted. Now, you could lift over the top. Furthermore, you could get the job done in the weekend, so work at the plant could go on in the week.
“The polar crane and dome could be built on the ground, up to 200m away from the containment. The client on this job saw a 30% increase in manpower utilisation due to fabrication at grade. It took about six hours to lift the dome, walk the dome to containment and set it. We still see work in the nuclear industry now, in decommissioning, and in replacing steam generators.”
It is this flexibility that made the Transi-Lift so unique. By being able to be assembled outside the job site, and then walked in, it allowed project managers to plan lifts without needing to shut down the site for extended periods. Because it could lift heavy loads to high radii, it could lift over obstacles, rather than requiring that they be removed ahead of the lift.
Pepin-Donat says, “A big use over the last 15 years has been in refineries. In the US, the low sulphur diesel initiative has meant that refineries have needed to install new reactors. These often weigh between 300–500 US tons. We’re also seeing a lot of work in replacing reactor and regenerator heads.”
Terex-Demag is aiming at the same market with its CC 8800 Twin. Rüdiger Zollondz, product manager lattice boom cranes, says, “In the petrochemical sector, there is a lot of demand from gas-to-liquid refineries, where reactors can weigh up to 1,500t.
“Five years ago there was a lot of demand from customers with refinery vessels that were 100m long and weighed 1,000t. The CC 8800 could only lift 400t, at those dimensions, while the Twin will be able to lift loads of that size weighing up to 1,700t.”
Pepin-Donat describes a series of jobs that demonstrate the need for this combination of lifting capacity and mobility. “At a Sunoco plant, in Philadelphia, we needed to lift an 850 US ton load to a radius of 250ft. Prior to that job, the LTL 2600 went to a job in 2003 at a refinery in New Jersey, where it was used to lift a load of 730 US tons to 290ft. As well as these very heavy loads, the LTL 2600 can still be used for other lifts. At Sunoco, it was used for around forty other lifts, with loads of up to 100 US tons being lifted to radii of up to 300ft.
“On a job like this, if you use strand jacks, you have to be right there, or move the component in place under the jacks. We’re able to sit back at a long distance and not impede the work at the rest of the site. For example, the LTL 2600 was used in a job in New Haven, Connecticut, where a bridge was being built over rail lines. The bridge couldn’t be stick built, due to the rail regulations. Another restriction was that the lift had to start at 1am, and be completed within three hours, as all of the overhead power for the railway needed to be turned off while it took place.
“The client decided to use the Transi-Lift. The total load was 1,040 US tons, and needed to be lifted to a radius of 186ft. We had scheduled 2h20min for the lift, and managed to complete it in 2h15m. On a lift like this, planning is absolutely key, from several viewpoints.
“You have to plan the available area. This is a big issue at refineries, and even bridges, where you have to plan for work going on around the lift. You have to be as efficient as you can: you need to plan the boom and fly jib, for all of the lifts that were envisioned. We work closely with our clients, and advise them on other lifts that could be made with the crane, which they may not have considered. This lets them amortise the cost of the crane, by making more use of it during the contract.”
A job in Newfoundland demonstrates how the LTL 2600’s ability to lift loads over obstacles can cut the costs of the overall project. “The LTL 2600 went from New Haven, to Mary’s Town, in Newfoundland, where it was used on an FPSO (a floating production, storage, and offload vessel). The FPSO was going to sit around 200km offshore, where it would receive oil by pipe from surrounding rigs. It strips the gas and water from the oil, and pumps this back into the well to maintain the pressure for extraction. It then offloads the oil to smaller tankers.
“That job entailed setting down around twenty different modules, ranging from 300t–1,325t, with the heaviest load needing to be lifted to a radius of around 60m. About ten of the modules needed to be lifted from the quay to the offshore side of the vessel, as it would have been too expensive to move the ship. We needed to lift an 85m tall flare stack, weighing around 400t, to a 90m radius. We were setting modules next to, or between, each other with clearances of only 300m, and over the gunnels of the ship.
“In demonstrations, we’ve shown the Transi-Lifts can work to a horizontal and vertical accuracy of 40–50 1,000ths of an inch. The crane’s structure is very solid.
“This variety of activities shows the versatility of the crane. On the FPSO job, the criteria wasn’t just lifting the heaviest loads, but lifting them out to extended radii, and up over high obstacles.”
The challenger
Terex-Demag aims to match this versatility, and build on it, with the CC 8800 Twin. Zollondz says, “It can be assembled outside of a job site, and be walked in empty or with a load. With a jacking tower or a ring lift crane, the site can be blocked for weeks while the crane is assembled. If you can get the refinery working four weeks earlier by using a pick and carry crane, this can save significant amounts of money. The Twin system can slew properly within tight spaces, rather than having to be walked to turn. It also needs less space than the bigger Lampson. We fulfill high standards: EU, German and US. For the petrochemical and nuclear sites where these cranes will often work, safety is a key issue.”
The Twin system makes use of a standard CC 8800-1 crawler base and components, but extends and doubles some parts to achieve its 3,200t capacity. Zollondz says, “It’s based on 8800-1 components, but uses less components than two 8800-1s working together. It has two booms and superlift systems, and double the lifting hoists (four, instead of two). It uses a standard CC 8800-1 chassis, extended with some special components. The two booms run parallel with each other, and are joined with horizontal connectors. The attachment point is between the two boom systems.
“It’s a proper pick and carry crane, with all of the capabilities of a standard crawler. It offers a higher ROI than other really big machines, as it can be used as two CC 8800-1s, with a few extra components. For users who already own a CC 8800-1, the twin system can be added to their existing crane. All of the assembly features are the same as the CC8800-1—all the main pin connections are controlled hydraulically.”
With the petro-chemical industry increasingly using very heavy components, demand for these high capacity cranes looks likely to remain strong. Pepin-Donat says that Lampson “has an LTL3000 on the drawing board, which will have a capacity of 3,000 US ton”. Zollondz notes that, “There’s a lot of CC 8800s around the world, and components will be available from different crane owners. We’re currently selling around five to ten CC 8800-1s a year, and some will be converted to Twins.” How long will it be before another crane manufacturer steps into the ring to make a challenge for the heavyweight belt?
Lampson LTL 2600 at work on a Sunoco refinery. Lampson LTL 2600 Sunoco Lampson LTL 2600 Lampson LTL 2600 The Lampson LTL 2600, at work lifting bridge sections into place in Connecticut Lampson Big Pick All data is provisional and may be subject to change Terex CC 8800 Twin data
Maximum boom length 117m
Mast length 56m
Track width 14m
Track length 17.5m
Maximum super-lift ballast 1,840t
Maximum lift 1,700t minimum radius 14m = 117m boom
Maximum lift 208t maximum radius 102m = 117m boom.
Maximum lift 2,700t minimum radius 9m = 69m boom
Maximum lift 599t maximum radius 58m = 69m boom.
SFVL (fly jib configuration, with heavy-duty head) on 117m boom 20m radius 1,300tons.
SFVL on 117m boom 111m radius 102tons.
All duties 360 degree, trackable with load, superlift wagon adjustable to 32m radius.
All data is provisional and may be subject to change
Lampson Transi-Lift dataBoom length: 200ft–500ft (60m–152m)
Jib configuration: The boom can be fitted with up to 240ft (73m) of jib
Maximum lifting height with 122m boom and 49m jib: 172m at a 35m radius. At a 100m radius the Jib tip height is 143m with a capacity of 500t
Rope falls: 26–58 parts on a single block; up to 84 parts on dual blocks.
Maximum counterweight: 6500 kips (2948.4t)
