The six Linden Comansa tower cranes are being used in the construction of bridges as part of the country’s 1,071km Route of the Sun, built to reduce travel time between the country’s major cities. An 18t 21LC400, two 18t 21LC210s, a 5t LC5211, an 8t 10LC140, and another crane of the same model will build a total of seven bridges in section 1 of the road. The cranes are operated by Gigacon the Spanish manufacturer’s official distributor in Colombia.
The cranes are working on the bridges consecutively: once they have completed one bridge they are disassembled, transported and erected at the next jobsite. Due to the demanding work schedule some of the cranes work in double shifts.
Gigacon, Linden Comansa’s official distributor in Colombia since 2010, has also been responsible for the technical support and maintenance tasks on the cranes at the jobsite. Due to the distance to any urban location Gigacon has a permanent maintenance team at the site to respond to any electrical, mechanical or equipment maintenance problems. Gigacon also managed the training of the crane operators, staff selected from among the inhabitants of the area where the road passes through.
The Linden Comansa cranes are working on sector 1 of the Route of the Sun. The manufacturer said that although this was the shortest of the three stretches that make up the highway it was also the most complex, as it crosses the Colombian part of the Andes range. It is a mountainous area with numerous rivers and gorges. The 78km sector features nearly 3km of tunnels and up to 6km of bridges and viaducts.
Fabio Cañón, sales and technical director at Gigacon said: "One of the biggest difficulties we faced was the transportation to the rural area of the Magdalena Medio, which is crossed by this Sector 1 of the Route of the Sun. It is a rather rugged and unpopulated area, 100km away from Bogota, and the current road doesn’t precisely meet the best conditions. For the erection of the crane we couldn’t count with heavy mobile cranes, but thanks to the lightweight of the tower crane’s sections, we were able to erect them spending a little more time than the usual. In addition, the high temperatures in the area added another problem to our team’s list when doing all the assembly works."
The Route of the Sun will bring the capital Bogota closer to the port town of Barranquilla. The project, one of the most ambitious in Latin America, has a budget of more than $2,500m and will reduce the car journeys between Bogota and Barranquilla from 18 hours to 10.
