Celebrations at Spierings

Spierings, the Netherlands-based manufacturer of mobile folding tower cranes, had a double celebration in December 2006.

Leo Spierings, director, handed over the manufacturer's 500th crane off the line, to Arie Dijksman, director of Ridderkerk's Kraanbedrijf (RKB) in the Netherlands. Dijksman was one of Spierings' first customers when production started in 1978. RKB runs a fleet of 16 cranes, all Spierings mobile folding towers in the 30 to 60 m jib range. The 500th unit was a six axle SK 1265-AT6.

The other part of the celebration was the official introduction in iron of the new Spierings SK 2400-AT7 (IC January 2006 page 11). The seven axle crane offers a maximum capacity of 18 tonnes at a radius of 13.4 m and a maximum hook height of 35.5 m. At the maximum 42 m reach the crane offers an unrestricted capacity of 5 tonnes.

To the surprise of visitors Spierings introduced a special lifting chart based on a maximum wind force of 6 Bf (11-14 m/sec) and applying one function at a time. This chart shows up to 6 tonnes at the tip at maximum outreach, both on a horizontal boom or when luffed to 30 degrees. Luffing the jib to this angle increases hook height to 56 m while outreach is limited to 36.6 m.

Spierings claims the crane can be operated by one person, which was confirmed by the first client to take delivery, Netherlands-based Verschoor. Maarten Verschoor also said his company ordered three units of the new SK 2400-AT7. Spierings said a total of 19 units of the new model had been sold, including units to customers in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and the UK.

In addition, Spierings confirmed the launch of a crawler-mounted version, the SK 2400-R. The crawler undercarriage has hydraulically extendable crawler tracks and hydraulic outriggers and the crane will be fully self-supporting. Spierings confirmed eight orders for the crawler version, including four to Dutch construction company Hendriks. Look out for more news on this in future issues of IC.