Western Europe Project round up

Dunkirk, France
A team of five Manitowoc crawler cranes are assisting the construction of what is said to be the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Europe.

The cranes are being operated by Dutch crawler specialist Crane House and working up to 24 hours a day at the €1bn project at Dunkirk, France.

With capacities from 250t-400t, the cranes were first used on the site in 2011, when a Manitowoc 16000 and a 272t Manitowoc 2250 were used for six months to install underwater foundations and a floating flat barge.

In mid-2013, another 16000 joined the project, followed by a second 2250 and a Manitowoc 15000 model. The 16000, as the largest crane on the site, is rigged with a 96m boom.

The cranes have worked along the shoreline at the project, with one assembled on an off-shore platform.

They were recently used to assist the construction of the terminal jetty, primarily through pouring concrete.

The project, which is being overseen by a consortium lead by French contractor Vinci, is due to be completed next year.

Mosel Valley, Germany
Porr is using two 12t Wolffkran cranes to assist construction of a bridge on a new national motorway in Germany.

The High Mosel Bridge is part of the Bundesstrasse 50, a project established by the German state that will connect the Benelux countries with the Rhine-Main region of Germany.

The bridge, which is 1.7km long and 158m high, is being constructed over vineyards in the Mosel Valley region. The project required contractor Porr Deutschland to expand its fleet with the two Wolff 6031.12 flattop trolley jib cranes, and to commission Wolffkran to provide associated services at the site over the next four years.

The cranes, which are operating at heights of 113.6m and 131.6m with a jib length of 40m, are being used to erect four pairs of bridge pylons and are currently working on the second pair. For the higher pylons, the cranes will rise to a hook height of 163m.

The cranes will be relocated several times throughout the project, including climbing and tie-ins -- with the windy conditions in the region making the operations particularly challenging, said Wolffkran.

The cranes are set to work on the bridge until 2016, before the bridge is opened to traffic in 2018.

Hamburg, Germany
German construction company Aug. Prien is using a Sennebogen 6130 HD duty cycle crawler crane on a pontoon at a harbour in Hamburg.

The 6130 HD is working on the creation of the new Elbbrücke quarter, one part of the ongoing HafenCity Project. This involves around 3,500 sq m of the harbour basin being filled in to produce space for a subway station and building development.

This area will be enclosed and protected from the sea by a 160m-long mixed sheet pile wall, with the crane installing the king piles. Conventional ramming was not an option as an installation method, says Sennebogen, due to the vibrations produced and the sensitive caisson foundation of the nearby Elbe bridge.

Schlitz, Germany
A 750t Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 crane has been used by German crane company Kran Saller to erect wind turbine towers.

Kran Saller, based in Deggendorf, added the crane to its fleet in July and recently used it to erect 89m-high concrete tower for 12 wind turbines.

The project, at the Berngerode wind farm at Schlitz, involved erecting the towers for 2.5MW wind turbines manufactured by GE. The crane was equipped with a Y-guying system and a 35m luffing jib.

Following that stage, Kran Saller used a Liebherr LR 1600/2 crawler crane to install segments of the steel tubular tower to the hub height of 139m, as well as the nacelle, hub and blades.

At almost 80t, the foundation rings were the heaviest components, with the steel tubular tower segments weighing in at 55t.

As the LTM 1750-9.1 is the largest crane in Kran Saller's fleet, the crane company added to the crane's livery the name 'Big Red One'. The next project planned for the crane by Kran Saller is erecting three wind turbines at the Hohenstein wind farm near Wiesbaden.