Schmidbauer puts new 600 tonner straight to work

German lifting and transport company Schmidbauer put its new 600 tonne capacity Liebherr crawler crane straight to work when it took delivery in November 2009.

The LR 1600/2 was used to unload parts of a press weighing up to 335 tonnes at the industrial port of Bedorf in Germany. It lifted the parts, sent from a steel plant in England, off a ship and moved them 12 m before lowering them onto specialized transporters. The crane made the lift at 23 m radius with 42 m main boom, 36 m derrick boom, 65 tonne central ballast, 150 tonnes of superstructure ballast, and the maximum derrick ballast of 350 tonnes.

Schmidbauer commented, "Thanks to the investment in this technologically advanced crawler crane, it was possible to handle a difficult situation perfectly with the machine. As well as the good load distribution of the two crawler travel gear units, the variable derrick system was a major advantage in view of the restricted space available at the location".

Another benefit mentioned by Schmidbauer was the maximum hook height and the broad application range. "Thanks to its maximum height under hook and the enormous lifting capacity, the crane is the perfect option for the assembly of wind farms as well as heavy lifting tasks such as moving transformers", the company said.

Schmidbauer Group, headquartered near Munich, has 250 mobile cranes and 150 heavy transport units. It operates from 20 locations in Germany and also works abroad.

Liebherr launched the LR 1600/2 in 2008 and claims sales of more than 30 units worldwide.