Heavy lift site report: Tracked pair

International heavy lift and transport company Sarens has supplied two Terex CC 8800-1 crawler cranes to work at the Muscat international airport terminal project in Oman.

The project started in August 2012 and is made up of the construction of two new terminals to the north and south of the airport, including arrival, check-in, immigration and departure halls. In addition, there are three piers on the north, south and west side and a traffic concourse under development.

The contract for the transportation, lifting and installation of all steel structures involved in the main terminal building is between joint-venture company Bechte-Enka and NASS Group LLC, the Sarens Nass Middle East (SNME) heavy lift and crane rental division based in Oman.

Working on site from the NASS Group SNME fleet at the time of writing in late November were nine mobile cranes, with capacities ranging from 30 tonnes up to 100 tonnes; 10 crawler cranes with capacities from 100 tonnes up to 200 tonnes; and a number of heavy duty trailers for internal transportation of oversized and overweight steel structures were also on site.

The two 1,600 tonne capacity CC 8800-1heavy lifters are from Sarens in the UK and Malaysia. The first heavy lift crawler was delivered in January; the second was delivered to the site in August 2013. The crawlers are accompanied by a 600 tonne capacity CC 2800-1 crawler from Bulgaria which has been on site since December 2012.

Work for the CC 8800-1s includes lifting steel structures and roof trusses. For the north departure hall a 194 tonne structure was lifted at a radius of 78 metres. Another task carried out for the traffic concourse included lifting 202 tonnes at 57.5 m and 105 tonnes at 114 m. The longest radius to place the steel trusses was 126 m.

To carry out the lifts the first CC 8800-1 on site was set up in SWSL configuration, with 235 tonnes of counterweight and 640 tonnes of superlift ballast. The longest configuration needed on site was a 66 m main boom and a 72m luffer.

The second CC 8800-1 delivered to the site was fitted with a superlift carrier, a 235 tonne counterweight and a 640 tonne super lift ballast. The longest configuration needed on site for the second crawler was 60 m of main boom and a 60 m luffer.

In addition to the two super heavy lift crawlers, the CC 2800-1 was configured with a 54 m main boom and a 96 m luffer with superlift tray.

The steel pieces were delivered to the site via overseas shipments and ordinary road transportation, a company spokesperson said. All pieces were assembled on site. To transport oversized and overweight structures from the lay down yard to under the crane hook, heavy duty extendable low-bed trailers are being used, a company spokesperson added.

The project is due to be completed by mid 2014.