BKL assembles Saez tower crane using helicopter

German crane rental specialist BKL Baukran Logistik (BKL) was commissioned by Austrian cable car company Silvrettaseilbahn to erect a tower crane up a mountain to help build a new cable car station in Ischgl, Austria.

To minimise weight and flight hours, BKL’s crane specialists configured the crane without a cabin and removed other non-essential components.

The construction site location was at an altitude of around 2,300 metres above sea level and could not be reached via vehicle. Using a helicopter was the only way to assemble the crane there.

The tower crane BKL used was its 130 tonne-metre Saez TLS 60 14. This crane, it said, is powerful yet modular and light enough to be airlifted to the site by helicopter.

Within one day, the BKL team assembled the flat-top crane in accordance with the customer request, defying the sleet and flight pauses due to dense fog at an altitude of 2,300 metres.

The schedule was tight as there was only a short timeframe in which to set up the crane after the ski season ended but before rising temperatures would make helicopter operations impossible.

In addition, flights were also affected by the altitude-related limitation of the load capacity to 3.2 tonnes.

This meant efficiency was key.

BKL transported the crane parts to the place of departure using several trucks with shortened trailers to safely navigate the narrow mountain roads.

At the helicopter departure point BKL prepared the crane components so that they could be quickly attached to the helicopter.

To further facilitate efficient assembly BKL configured the crane without a cabin and removed other non-essential components to save weight and helicopter hours. It also weighed and marked each component in advance to ensure a smooth process.

At the construction site BKL’s service engineers secured the crossbase on a pre-concreted surface to save heavy base ballast. To enable the tower sections to be flown in closely timed sets, they were first set up and partially bolted together. The final bolting was done in the flight breaks.

Despite adverse weather conditions and a flight break of several hours due to dense fog, BKL completed the crane assembly in just 15 flights over one day.

The top-slewing crane, which has a radius of 25 metres and a hook height of around 21 metres, is now helping build the cable car station in time for the next ski season in this well-known winter sports region.