Ten years ago contractors considering lifts of hundreds of tonnes for major construction projects would inevitably turn to crawlers or truck mounted LG’s. But developments in the mobile crane sector, particularly concerning all terrain cranes, are presenting companies with more options when it comes to executing their lifts. "In my experience I have seen the growth of mobile cranes to the point where they can compete with former boom section cranes," explains Corné Woestenberg, director of crane rental for the western regions at international heavy lifting and transportation specialist Mammoet. He says that Mammoet’s focus is on improving construction efficiency and optimizing the uptime of plants and installations has led to significant investment in new mobile cranes. "Mobile cranes bear significant improvements in safety, accessibility and how they are rigged up, all of which gives us more possible solutions to provide to our customers."
Woestenberg points to several recent jobs that illustrate the potential of all terrains. In Rotterdam for example the company planned and executed the lift of a 340t column from inland waterway vessel to coaster using its Terex Demag AC 700 in combination with a 250t PBH harbour crane. The firm had less than 24 hours notice to plan and execute the lift at its heavy lift terminal in Rotterdam, which would not have been possible with traditional methods. "A combination of cranes gives us far more flexibility to plan for our customers compared to a crawler which will always need a week mobilisation and a week demobilisation," he says.
Such is the potential in this sector that Mammoet has ordered six new 750t LTM 1750-9.1 all terrains from Liebherr for use all over the world. The first lift was undertaken in IJmondhaven in the Netherlands in February when the company deployed its brand new super crane to lift a 340t temporary support leg for the GPS Saturn offshore drilling rig, enabling one of its 120m legs to be repaired."This was the first time a load this heavy was lifted by 3 mobile cranes only. The new 750 ton crane undertook the job together with two 700 ton mobile cranes. The three cranes needed two hours to lift the leg from the water onto an offshore supply ship," explains Woestenberg. "With this solution we were able to provide our customer a more flexible solution as the alternative of a floating crane would have cost considerable more time to mobilise," he says.
First presented to the industry at Ehingen in July 2012 Liebherr’s new nine axle machine sits between the LTM 1500-8.1 and the 12000-9.1 and is billed as the world’s largest self-assembling mobile crane as it does not need a second crane to install the boom and other basic components. The standard telescopic boom for the 108t crane extends to 52m and can be used in other configurations for a greater height or radius. The maximum lifting height is 154m and the maximum radius is 112m. "We will use them in bridges, concrete bridges, steel to take apart in maintenance projects, in the chemical industry, and of course for wind industry projects. We will also use them in bespoke solutions in combination with other cranes," says Woestenberg who notes that the increased push to use modular construction methods is a key driver behind the growing demand.
Liebherr says that 40 of the machines are being supplied to customers during 2013 and that a dozen are already in use in the industry. One of the first machines was collected by Germany’s Breuer & Wasel which drove the crane north from the Liebherr site in Ehingen to a wind farm in Brunsbüttel where it erected four new 3.4MW turbines which had hub heights of 78m."You can drive it like a car," says crane driver Daniel Decker of Breuer & Wasel who drove the machine 800km from factory to site. The crane travels on roads with only its front supports and can fit its rear support on site by itself with its auxiliary support positioned at the rear for this purpose. Breuer & Wasel report that the crane team and fitters erected a complete wind turbine with a hub height of 78m and a rotor with a massive diameter of 104m in just two days. "We need around one-third of the time required to move a comparable lattice boom crane", says Jürgen Oprée, technical manager at Breuer & Wasel. "The crane has absolutely delighted our customer. He loves the fact that it takes so little time to move it and has already promised follow-up orders."
Although set up for lattice boom cranes invariably takes longer and requires an auxiliary crane, these machines still have their advantages with their high reach, high lift capacity and small footprints. The Terex TC 2800-1 for example with its 192m maximum tip height, and 138m main boom, is used extensively throughout the wind, construction, industrial and energy industries to lift large components to considerable heights and in some circumstances it remains unrivalled. In London in January 2013 for example crane hire company Ainscough and its TC 2800-1 came to the rescue of a tower crane that had been hit by a helicopter. The tower crane was being used by contractor Brookfield Multiplex on the St George’s Wharf tower. At first the industry was unsure as to how quickly the situation could be remedied but the arrival of the TC 2800-1 solved the problem in just a few days.
The TC 2800-1’s biggest customer however is the wind industry and Terex points to a challenging lift in the Swiss Alps as evidence of the flexibility and capacity of the machine which can be ordered with a crawler or a truck crane chassis. A truck crane version was used for the remote alpine project where Germany’s Enercon needed to place a 2.3MW E-70 wind turbine at an altitude of 2465m at a site that was only accessible for four months of the year due to snowfall blocking access. Germany’s SwissWinds Development together with crane service provider Welti-Furrer Pneukran & Spezialtransporte AG delivered the project in four weeks which culminated in the nacelle, its 50t generator and 70m rotor being lifted to a hub height of 85m.
Another wind industry stalwart is Manitowoc’s Grove GTK 1100 which can lift over 43t to an impressive 137m. Developed by one of Manitowoc’s lead designers, Gerhard Kaupert, the crane was launched in 2007 and combines a Grove GMK all terrain crane upper, mounted on a telescoping tower. The tower and upper are mounted on an SPMT-style hydrostatic carrier, and held steady by pendants linking the tower and upper to the outriggers. Launched in 2007 Manitowoc says that the crane remains popular, and says that if customers continue to have a need for this type of machine they will definitely pursue expanding their range.
In terms of mobile crane development, Manitowoc says that it has been driving innovation within its all terrain range. The six axle Grove GMK6400 was introduced to the market at its Wilhelmshaven factory in mid 2012 and went on to pick up the "Innovation Manufacturer" award from the ESTA at Bauma in April 2013. The company describes it as "the most powerful six axle crane in the market" and it is fitted with a special boom suspension device Manitowoc calls the Mega Wing Lift. "It provides the main boom with additional stability and strength and increases load chart capacity from 38t at 60m by almost 70% to 64t at 60m," explains Astrid Hager- Guthrie, global product director for all terrain cranes at Manitowoc. "An added bonus is that no assist crane is needed for the installation and it can be rigged in 20 minutes." In the past the Mega Wing Lift has needed another crane to install it but for the GMK6400 it is self rigging. Other new features present on the GMK 6400 include the Mega Drive which gives the crane both traditional and hydrostatic drive capabilities. At speeds lower than 20km/h the hydrostatic drive gives the crane exact control and better traction when manoeuvring at slow speeds on job sites and on bad surface areas, at speeds over 20 km/h, the Mega Drive disengages and the standard drive train takes over. This hybrid drive system provides several advantages says Hager-Guthrie such as less weight, better fuel efficiency and less wear. Furthermore the GMK6400 offers the "Fuel saver option", a small diesel generator with compressor & alternator to power the electrical system & A/C when the engine gets switched off automatically after idling for certain amount of time. "It saves 5 litres of diesel an hour," says Hager-Guthrie.
The company says it is looking at adopting some of these features on future all terrain cranes as well as adopting the new crane control system (CCS) as introduced to its new 3 axle GMK 3060 across its fleet. "It controls vital crane functions, how much load it lifts, boom length, outrigger extension amongst others," says Hager- Guthrie. "We are standardising the specific components of that system and developing a common architecture for the software development because we want to have one system across across all product families so our customers can have new models of cranes faster and there is only one system for the customer or operator to learn and maintain."
Since the launch of the GMK6400 Hager-Guthrie says there has been a lot of interest and several cranes are already operating in the market. "We have had a lot of interest and a lot of good feedback. The 6300L and the 7550 have been very successful cranes for us and we are looking for the 6400 to continue that trend. With the many features, positive customer response and winning the innovation award we are expecting that the reception in the market will be very good," she says.
Terex too has been upgrading its mid-sized all terrain cranes and at Bauma in April launched the Terex Explorer 5800 which it describes as "revolutionary" thanks to its ability to be driven on any road in any country. "This crane can effortlessly comply with any regulations for operation in every market in the world," says Arndt Jahns, manager for product marketing at Terex Cranes who explains that it can be easily configured for different axle loads from under 9.1 t to 16.5 t per axle and with 2.44 m axle spacing. The 220 t capacity class crane offers a boom with a short 1.2 m front overhang, while its optional boomoff solution or dolly help in meeting stringent road regulations. Although it is compact Jahns says that the machine is highly productive with its 70 m main boom, and maximum 103 m system length giving a maximum load moment of 660mt. The first cranes will be sent to customers in January 2014 and Terex says that it has been pleasantly surprised by the large amount of interest that the crane generated.
Another new launch in the five axle range is Zoomlion’s QAY200 which the firm says has been developed in response to growing demand for five and six axle 200t to 300t capacity class mobile cranes in developing markets such as China, India and the Middle East. Zoomlion points to advantages such as the 72m main boom, a small 20m turning diameter, six steering modes and improvements to the hydropneumatic suspension, brakes and automated telescoping system. The company says that its philosophy is "highest quality wins the market" and it has invested heavily in facilities, equipment and raw materials to meet this objective. Since 2002 the firm has been working on developing heavy duty mobiles and has manufactured an enormous 2000t all terrain called the QAY2000, which is undergoing testing. Zoomlion says that the launch of its second generation series began in 2010 and includes the QAY200, QAY260, QAY300 and the QAY2000.
"Zoomlion emphasises communication and cooperation with the famous research universities and world-famous components manufacturers," says a spokesperson for the company "Thus, we can cooperatively make technological breakthrough in various fields and multiple levels as well as enlarge the research findings."
The firm says that particular attention has been paid in areas such as oval profile boom optimization; fault self-diagnostic system; hydro-pneumatic suspension system; multiple-axle steering modes; limit load control systems; large-scale vehicle brake system; energy-saving and emission-reduction technology; extra long jib and boom derricking technology; and superlift device and control technology."Zoomlion is really aggressively driving its development department to develop a crane that is at the top of the scale," says Crane Link Zoomlion owner Mark Bates discussing the QAY200. The South Africa based crane provider reports strong growth in the country thanks to a range of power and petrochemical projects. "There is a huge drive now on quality. They are really pushing it to where everyone else is going and using European imported components," he says.
South Africa’s current market leader for all terrains is Liebherr and Bates says that Crane Link is targeting their market share with the QAY200 designed to match the specifications of the European manufacturers. "We have just completed two orders for the market in the last three months," says Bates of the new crane. As a hire driven market most of Crane Link’s customers are crane hire firms who buy from Crane Link. Bates says that a lack of high level planning can mean sudden peaks in demand for cranes and so he carries a large stock. "Suddenly contracts are awarded so if you have cranes in stock you generally sell them," he says.
Traditionally all terrains have dominated in South Africa and they still remain popular today with rough terrains also gaining ground. Worldwide hire firms and manufacturers alike say that demand for all terrains continues to be strong thanks to their versatility. Despite the constraints on manufacturers brought about by the global construction dip in 2008 to 2010 and ongoing investment in engines to comply with European emissions standards, manufacturers are continuing to modernise their mobile propositions. From Terex five axle Explorer 5800 that can be driven anywhere in the world to Liebherr’s 750t LTM 1750-9.1 which is replacing crawlers and floating cranes, Manitowoc’s innovative GMK6400 and Zoomlion’s enormous QAY 2000, customers are continuing to benefit from an industry that is constantly listening to its customers needs and trying to give them more for less.
