Unique Manitowoc crawlers for Saipem

Saipem, an Italian energy contractor specialising in the oil and gas industry, has ordered four new crawlers from Manitowoc’s Lift Solutions team.

The crawlers will be customised to work in remote areas, both onshore and off, and in deep water seas. The new cranes include two Manitowoc 14000s, a 777 and a 999.

Customisations include adding an hydraulic tagline winch to aid load handling stability in offshore lifting applications; personnel-handling winch and two-shaft upper boom point; salt water protection, including a zinc-based primer; custom lights and an emergency backup hydraulic power that can swing, hoist and lower all winches, and can also lift and lower the boom in case of engine failure.

All equipment and upgrades have been designed with RINA (Registro Navale Italiano) certification in mind, the company said.

Dustin Soerens, product support specialist at Manitowoc, said, “On a large-scale, highly technical customer request such as this, open communication is a must. Both Saipem and Manitowoc did a great job in forming detailed plans early on in the project to ensure the final product met Saipem’s expectations. This project was a vivid example of the attention to customer demands and dedication to custom project accuracy that Lift Solutions was established to meet.”

Production began in June 2012 and the cranes were inspected by Saipem ATCO mobile cranes superintendent Andrea D’Ostilio in November and December before delivery. Saipem is a subsidiary of oil conglomerate Eni.