Double progress

International heavy lifting and transport specialist, Mammoet, has surprised the market by showing its PTC I fitted with the new Double Stacked (DS) boom that was announced late last year (IC Dec 05, p6). The crane underwent extensive testing in late February. Commenting on the rapid progress from drawing board to reality, a Mammoet spokesman said, “Current market developments called for some swift action to meet client requests.” It means the first PTC-DS will be ready to start working at an undisclosed location in the UK later this month.

Technicians from Mammoet and Huisman-Itrec conducted the testing programme. The client and independent international surveyors from Lloyds and TüV witnessed it. The tests included 121 m and 79 m of DS main boom, runner and 600 and 1,600 tonne capacity boom heads. Overload tests (125%) were performed, for example, lifting 278 tonnes on the 600 tonne head installed on the 121 m boom at 104 m radius. Maximum test lifting (125%) reached 2,000 tonnes on the 1,600 tonne head installed on the 79 m boom at 17.6 m radius.

Last November Mammoet announced, as part of an extensive investment program, its intention to add a fourth PTC to its heavy lift fleet later this year (IC Dec05, p6). The new PTC will have the DS boom, which will increase its lifting capacity by between 15 and 35% over the conventional single boom PTCs.