TopLift 2006

Multiple lift

Equipment User: Ainscough lifting equipment used: 3 x Liebherr LTM 1055- 3.1 ATs plus a Kato NK250HV truck crane LOCATION: Exeter, UK

UK-based Ainscough Crane Hire was contracted by DBS Maintenance to raise the canopy of a petrol station in Exeter. The canopy had to be elevated to allow for extra height vehICles and with the dimension of the canopy the job required four cranes lifting together. Ainscough used three new 55 tonne (60 ton) capacity Liebherr LTM1055-3.1 all terrain wheeled mobile cranes and a 25 tonne (27 ton) capacity Kato NK250HV truck mounted crane.

Return Shuttle

Equipment User: Nasa Lifting Equipment Used: Shuttle Mate/Demate DevICe LOCATION: California, US

NASA's $1 million operation to lift the Space Shuttle onto the back of a Boeing 747 aircraft took 35 people about 18 hours using the purpose-designed Shuttle Mate/Demate DevICe at the Dryden Flight Research Center. The MDD is a system of three 90 tonne hoists operating simultaneously. They are suspended from specially built towers and attached to a lift beam system that attaches to the Shuttle at four points.

Record lift

Equipment User: Mammoet Lifting Equipment Used: Mammoet MSG 50 LOCATION: Qatar, Middle East

A world record crane lift, using Mammoet's MSG, is claimed for this refinery installation job in Qatar. The Mammoet Sliding Gantry set the record when it was used to install two reactors, each weighing 2,016 tonnes, at a radius of 34 m. The MSG was set with 75.5 m main boom, 15.4 m jib and 2,600 tonnes of containerised ballast.

Lifting flare

Equipment User: Fagioli PSC Lifting Equipment Used: Second Generation Towerlift LOCATION: Hammerfest, Norway

Fagioli used its second generation Towerlift system to lift a 630 tonne flare tower at the Hammerfest project in Norway. The configuration used was a twin tower arrangement almost 80 m high each topped with a cantilever beam arrangement. These towers were fully free standing without guy wires in either an operational or storm condition. Doing the lifting were the 750 tonne capacity L750 strand jacks mounted on cantilever beams atop each tower.

Wind at the top

Equipment User: Prangl Equipment Used: Terex-Demag AC 500-2 telescopic wheeled mobile LOCATION: Ratten, Austria

Prangl's task was to transport ten wind turbines up forest tracks and then erect them using a Terex-Demag AC 500-2 telescopic wheeled mobile crane. To reach the site, the convoy of transporters, and the crane, had to travel up 22% gradients before setting up a storage area for the equipment. The heaviest sections of the 60 m towers weighed 38 tonnes, while the generators weighed 48 tonnes and the blade and hub assemblies totalled 78 tonnes.

>Changing thrusters

Equipment User: Machine Moving and Engineering Equipment Used: Riggers Manufacturing self propelled boom truck, J&R Engineering L1001-4-34 Lift-n-Lock telescopic hydraulIC boom gantry LOCATION: Cape Town, South AfrICa

Machine Moving and Engineering used a 500 ton capacity J&R Engineering model L1001-4-34 fitted with a custom built cradle to remove and then re-install the 50 tonne thrusters on a pair of oil drilling vessels. A 65 tonne capacity Riggers Manufacturing self propelled boom truck was used to transport the thrusters in and out of the repair shop.

Bridging a gap

Equipment User: Crane ServICes Heavy Crane Division Equipment Used: 2 x Liebherr LTM 1500 telescopic wheeled mobile cranes LOCATION: Clyde, Scotland

Crane ServICes Heavy Crane Division erected a new bridge arch over the River Clyde in Scotland. A major challenge was that the cranes had to stand on an existing bridge. The two 500 tonne capacity Liebherr LTM 1500s where stood in three positions. A further challenge was the curved main bridge so the front of the cranes had to be blocked up more than 800 mm.

High level

Equipment User: Chellino Crane Lifting Equipment Used: Manitowoc Model 12000 crawler LOCATION: ChICago, US

Chellino crane, based in Illinois, US, used a Manitowoc Model 12000 crawler with 52 m luffing jib to lift a coke unit to a height of 76 m. On top of that was a relief valve pipe sitting 3 m higher. The job was done at a ChICago oil refinery where the 109 tonne (120 US ton) capacity Model 12000 replaced a 450 tonne crawler used earlier on the project. The coke unit and the pipe each weighed 2.7 tonnes.

Gas tower

Equipment User: Sarens Lifting Equipment Used: Sarens Sartower Location: Equatorial Guinea, AfrICa

Belgium-based specialist Sarens used its Sartower lift system to install a 662 tonne CO₂absorber vessel, part of the EG LNG project under construction in Equatorial Guinea, AfrICa. To install the 37 m long and 5.5 m diameter vessel Sarens used a pair of 44 m high towers, each containing a 1,000 tonne capacity hydromechanICal push-up system, set up each side of the vessel's foundation. Space restrICtions limited guying to a pair of relatively short lattICe boom sections arranged longitudinally and one tower was stabilised transversely.

Lifting a slope

Equipment User: VSL (Switzerland) Ltd Lifting Equipment Used: 16 strand jacks, 20 km of steel lifting cable, support towers LOCATION: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

In what lifting contractor VSL claims was a record lift for the region, at 3,000 tonnes, a 400 m by 60 m steel and concrete enclosed ski slope was raised about 80 m. The 16 strand jacks were arranged at each corner in groups of four units to lift the Snow Centre structure, whICh is part of the Mall of the Emirates development.