Potain used for Panama skyscraper

A $360 million project to construct a twin-tower skyscraper in Panama City, Panama used 11 internally erected Potain tower cranes to keep the project on budget without disrupting the city’s heavy downtown traffic, the company said.

The tower cranes used for the construction of Soho Panama - a large complex that houses a multi-plaza mall with 120 stores, a 226-room Ritz-Carlton hotel and a casino - were supplied by Corpinsa, the Potain distributor since the early 1990s in Panama.

The 11 Potain cranes were lifting formwork, reinforcing steel, concrete and structural steel, at times for over 10 hours a day. The cranes included a combination of the MCT 205, with 10 tonnes (11 US tons) of capacity; the MC 235C, also with 10 tonnes (11 US tons) of capacity; and the MC 310 K 16, with 16 tonnes (17.6 US tons) of capacity.

Raymond Mizrachi, CEO at Corpinsa, said, “We recommended these specific Potain tower cranes because they could climb internally as construction advanced without any loss in lifting capacity. Also, we had a set schedule to achieve and we knew that the fast line speeds of the crane were key to staying on track, day after day.”

The Potain MCT 205 can handle 1.75 tonnes (1.9 US tons) at its 65 metre (211 foot) jib end, sufficient for most materials lifted and placed around Soho Panama’s site. The crane’s modern design made it quick to erect and get work started. Its heaviest group of components weigh just 7.9 tonnes (8.7 US tons), while the full 65 m (211 ft) jib can be placed in a single lift, saving considerable time for operators and engineers, the company said.