Enter TopLift 2012
08 October 2012
This year’s competition includes some novel solutions in a range of challenging applications. Readers are asked to pick their favourite from our selection of 10 outstanding lifting projects below, carried out over the last 12 months.
For pictures of these projects, see the Images box to the right of this article.
To register your vote, please click here or e-mail alex.dahm@khl.com, including your name, your company's name, along with your choice.
ENTRY 1: Peruvian power
EQUIPMENT USER: ALE
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Two-tower gantry system, strand jacks
LOCATION: Peru
ALE designed a 60 metre tall self-erecting gantry to install a 51 m de-ethaniser column weighing 463 tonnes at the Malvinas Plant expansion project in the Peruvian jungle. Two 500 tonne strand jacks stabilised the tower. The tailing gantry had an hydraulic 500 tonne strand jack.
ENTRY 2: Easy pieces
EQUIPMENT USER: Jumbo Shipping
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Ship-mounted cranes
LOCATION: China
Jumbo Shipping transported two Kalmar ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes and seven rubber tyred gantries (RTG) from Taicang, China to Cartagena, Colombia. The STS cranes were too big to handle fully assembled, so both were shipped in large sections weighing up to 1,000 tonnes each.
ENTRY 3: Final frontier
EQUIPMENT USER: J.F. Lomma
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Crawler crane
LOCATION: USA
In April the Space Shuttle Discovery made its final voyage atop its Boeing 747 Shuttle Aircraft Carrier (SAC), destined for a museum in Washington. A 600 tonne capacity Terex CC 2800-1 crawler lifted the 89,085 kg shuttle off the 747, following three days rigging and a fourth day testing.
ENTRY 4: Multiple mobile
EQUIPMENT USER: Liebherr
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Crawler cranes
LOCATION: Germany
A series of cranes lifted each other in sequence at a Liebherr-Werk Ehingen customer event. A 3,000 tonne capacity LR 13000 crawler, with P-Boom, lifted a 1,480 tonne load of crawler cranes and rigging, including an LR 11350, LR 1350/1, LTR 1100 and two scale models. The LR 13000 slewed and tracked with the load.
ENTRY 5: In frame
EQUIPMENT USER: Tianjin Launch Specific Hoisting Equipment Engineering
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Crawler cranes
LOCATION: China
A 1,000 tonne capacity Terex CC 5800 and 600 tonne CC 2800-1 lifted in tandem to install the 320 tonne back frame of the reflector for the antenna of Asia’s largest radio telescope. Lifting the 65 metre diameter and 11 m tall frame required a low wind speed.
ENTRY 6: Wind wonder
EQUIPMENT USER: Max Bögl Wind
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Tower crane
LOCATION: Germany
The new Liebherr 630 EC–H 70 Litronic tower crane is designed to erect wind turbines with hub heights of more than 110 metres. It was developed with Max Bögl Wind AG to erect new generation 3 MW Vestas V 112 hybrid turbines with 140 m hub height.
ENTRY 7: Setting steel
EQUIPMENT USER: Sarens
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Fixed-based ring crane
LOCATION: USA
For its first job Sarens’ new SGC-120 super heavy lift crane positioned 165 metre beams, weighing 325 US tons (295 tonnes), at a radius of 156 m, among other lifts, on the construction of a production hall for the steel industry in Arizona.
ENTRY 8: Inside job
EQUIPMENT USER: Mammoet
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Wheeled mobile cranes
LOCATION: Germany
Mammoet installed two gas pipes inside a cooling tower in Hamm, Germany, with limited space for rigging. Each pipe was 50 metres long, 9 m diameter and weighed 100 tonnes. Largest of the two Liebherrs used was a nine-axle, 1,200 tonne capacity LTM 11200-9.1.
ENTRY 9: High Pedestal
EQUIPMENT USER: Crane Rental Corporation
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Combined tower system
LOCATION: USA
An 805,480 pound steam turbine generator and a 377,000 pound steam turbine were lifted and placed onto a 44 foot (13 metre) tall pedestal, surrounded by structural steel. Crane Rental used its ALT (Alternative Lifting Tower), including tower crane sections, 500 ton J&R Engineering hydraulic gantries, a jack and slide track, crossbeams, and four strand jacks.
ENTRY 10: Heavy reaction
EQUIPMENT USER: Fagioli
LIFTING EQUIPMENT USED: Custom tailing structure and lifting tower
LOCATION: Italy
Fagioli skidded and lifted two slurry reactors weighing 1,916 tonnes each, using a custom-made structure mounted on four skid shoes, instead of using a crawler crane for tailing. Equipment included 80 SPMT axle lines; tailing frame; jack support beam; six L600 strand jacks; and 80 m tower-lift system
