Close to the load

A few years ago, Liebherr Biberach launched the EC-HM tower crane series, which now has five types with capacities from about 70tm to above 200tm. A notable feature of this variation of the German manufacturer’s standard EC-H range is that its operator cabins, for the first time, come as an option. They mount on the outside of the frame. Instead, remote control is standard.

Soon after Manitowoc acquired Potain in 2002, the decision was made to build a totally new plant. By 2002, the MC product line had expanded to include cranes of up to 320tm and it was already clear that the company was outgrowing its partner’s downtown 60,000 sq m plant. Investments had been made at the old site but an inefficient layout limited capacity to about 250 cranes a year. The new site would be within a couple of kilometres of the old plant, so as to retain the employees in whom so much training had been invested.

For any construction crane, a key feature is that it should be quick and easy to deploy and operate. Mobile cranes should be able to get to sites quickly - whether it is under their power or on the back of a trailer - and be ready for work with the minimum of preparation. For tower cranes, the key is quick assembly and, once the job is done, removal.

India’s accelerating economic growth has caused a sharp increase in construction activity, as investment in housing, industrial property and infrastructure development rises throughout the country. Construction mechanisation has been welcomed by India’s crane manufacturing industry, which has seen a surge in orders as contractors invest in modern equipment to reduce construction time.

Action Construction Equipment Ltd (ACE Cranes) of Delhi is planning a major factory investment programme to cope with a forecasted annual doubling of mobile self-erecting tower crane sales and orders for pick and carry cranes in the near future to supply rising overseas and domestic demand.

The era of the super-sized tower crane effectively began some thirty years ago as crane manufacturers responded to the evolving demands of the nuclear power plant building programmes of Europe, the Soviet Union and the USA. Demand was also driven by the needs of the offshore oil and gas exploration industry, and the ever-growing requirements of builders of super tankers in northern Europe and Japan. Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster in 1986 finished off the nuclear ambitions of most countries and with it much of the demand for super-heavy tower cranes. Meanwhile ship building largely completed its move eastwards.

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The industry’s new plan proposes that every truck and AT crane will have a new LMI safety system. They will also need to have a data logger – a black box. Although a plan was broadly agreed amongst the industry at Intermat in April, change won't come until the present plan, which is not entirely final, is harmonised across the entire EU - which is expected at the earliest to be 2009. But the change is still radical.

When Edmund Nuttall began thinking about building the new Finniston bridge across the river Clyde, it was soon clear that it would need some heavy equipment. The futuristic steel arch bridge has an unusual oblique form with a single steel arch crossing from one side of the road to the other, part of a strong skew orientation of the whole bridge.

In May 2003, all of the post-Intermat talk was that international public opinion had turned against Intermat, and toward Chinese shows such as Bauma China (this November), or Conexpo Asia (last month). Yet more than 200,000 visitors came to Paris, with the most of the major international manufacturers. Notable absences include Tadano-Faun and Spierings.

A crane accident can cause death and destruction on a frightening scale.  That makes comments made by Jeff York, president of US-based operator assistance company Signal-Rite, LLC, even more concerning. He believes there could be devastating consequences if formal verbal communication directives are not introduced to the industry.