Dutch crane service provider M.J. van Riel was commissioned to first remove, then replace, a 240-tonne gantry crane from the inland port in ’S-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, as part of an overhaul. To replace the crane M.J. van Riel utilised four cranes to lift the gantry crane into position; three of these cranes were Tadano all terrains – namely two AC 9.700-1 units and one AC 8.500-1.
All four cranes were stationed at Van Riel’s headquarters in Tilburg and it took them around 45 minutes to get to the jobsite. Once there Van Riel set up all the cranes with their full counterweights.
As no super lift configurations were required this took around one-and-a-half hours for each crane.
The lift itself was complex. “Synchronously lifting a load this heavy with four cranes requires extremely meticulous planning,” said Claire Van Riel, marketing and communication officer at M.J. van Riel. This was because the load had to be evenly distributed among all four cranes in order to avoid overloading any single one of them. The lifting movements had to be perfectly synchronised so that the load would not overturn or become warped. This required close communication between all the crane operators.
The Van Riel team lifted the gantry crane to a height of 24 metres, then they swung it sideways by 10 metres, before setting it down in position.
The installation was completed in one day.
