LR 13000 in 3,371 tonne test lift

Liebherr has released a picture of its 3,000 tonne capacity LR 13000 crawler crane lifting a 3,371 tonne test weight at its Ehingen factory in Germany.

The latest image is the first time the crane has been seen with boom attached. The manufacturer claims it will be the strongest conventional crawler crane in the world.

The conventional design crane will lift its maximum load out to a radius of 12 m. Target applications include power stations, especially nuclear plants, with large pre-assembled modules. Refinery vessels are another application where columns are up to 1,500 tonnes and 100 m tall.

The crawlers stand more than 3.5 m tall and weigh more than 200 tonnes each. The hook block weighs 111 tonnes. Maximum system length is 246 m, achieved with 120 m main boom plus 126 m luffing jib. Four boom systems - light, medium heavy, heavy, and super-heavy - can be combined.

The manufacturer says it is the only crawler crane in its class that can work without derrick ballast. Key to this is the slew ring that is produced in-house. For use with derrick, a suspended ballast system like that on the LR 11350 can be adjusted over the derrick boom without a guide from 20 to 30 m ballast radius.

Also available is a ballast trailer system where the standard suspended ballast arrangement is combined with SPMT type heavy lift modular trailer.

For transport maximum component weight is 70 tonnes. Equipped for operation, with 400 tonnes of superstructure ballast and 1,500 tonnes of derrick ballast, the LR 13000 weighs 3,500 tonnes.

Most components are within 3.6 m tall and 4 m wide. The crawler frames are more than 3.5 m tall, 20 m long, and weigh about 210 tonnes. The 82 tonne tracks are removed, dismantled and transported in containers. The remaining 128 tonne frame is divided in half and moved by low loader.

The 4.5 m diameter slewing ring is tilted up diagonally to remain within 4 m width for transport. For easier transport the concrete ballast blocks are the same dimensions as 20 foot containers