First lift in Turkey for ALE’s AL.SK190

International heavy lift and transport company ALE has performed the first lift in Turkey of its 4,300 tonne capacity AL.SK190 - one of the world’s largest land based cranes - at the Greenfiled petrochemical site in Aliağa, Izmir province.

Together with Turkey-based crane operator Izmir Vinc, ALE used the AL.SK190 to upright a 600 tonne vacuum tower and an 800 tonne crude column, lifting them over a 20 metre high pipe rack and landing them safely into their final positions. The tallest item measured over 80 m.

Jose Angel Morquillas, project manager overseeing the project on behalf of ALE, said, “The ALE-designed lifting device was the perfect match for the STAR Aegean Refinery Project [ARP], as it enabled huge planning optimisations with regards to civil works, piping and the installation of loadbearing structures before the arrival of the critical components.

“The selected crane configuration allowed the foundations, chimney, pipe racks, substations and compressor buildings to be constructed well in advance of the arrival and installation of the heavy equipment. In addition to the on site preparatory works, the owners, project developers and EPC-contractor were able to fine tune and adapt the initial logistics strategy and budget as a direct result of the AL.SK190 capabilities.”

The AL.SK190 crane was launched in 2008 with a lifting capacity of 4,300 tonnes, a maximum boom height of almost 200 m, and a load moment of 196,000 tonne metres. The company says that the 190 can perform lifts previously unachievable, and it can do this while occupying a very small footprint of just 35 m x 55 m.

So far, the AL.SK190 crane has been used in the USA, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

The AL.SK cranes are also available in AL.SK350 and AL.SK700 configurations - the latter launched earlier this year - with capacities up to 5,200 tonnes and 8,000 tonnes respectively.