OCEANIA | REGION REPORT
the Overhead Crane Manufacturing industry. Industry operators are likely to face weak demand from the manufacturing, mining and building construction markets,” – mining of course is a major consumer of lifting equipment in Australia – “but it may derive some stimulus from infrastructure construction,” says the same source. It may indeed. Australia in particular has some impressively large infrastructure projects right now, driven by the huge,
almost explosive, growth of their cities. Sydney, the most populous city, with currently around 5.3 million inhabitants, is forecast to reach 6 million by 2026; Melbourne, currently Australia’s second city with 5.1 million, is growing even faster and by that time is forecast to overtake with 6.2 million people. The Australian Bureau of Statistics say by 2050 Sydney will be a city of 9.08 million and Melbourne 9.61 million. Both cities have embarked on very ambitious, and
long-overdue, expansions to their metro systems, which in both cases have been not far short of rudimentary, and both of which involve tunnelling under the central business districts - and in Sydney’s case under the iconic harbour as well – as well as expansions into the suburbs. Brisbane, too, has Queensland’s largest infrastructure project in the form of the Cross River Rail, 10 km of rail line including twin tunnels under the Brisbane river and the business district.
KONECRANES INTO POWER ROLE
Western Australia’s largest electricity generator, Synergy, has installed a Konecranes 50t CXT double-girder Turbine Hall crane at its Kwinana facility as part of a series of upgrades. Synergy is owned by the Government of Western Australian and is a major retailer of electricity, with more than one million customers across the State. The Konecranes 50t CXT double-girder crane was installed with TRUCONNECT remote monitoring and reporting, a 10t auxiliary hoist, IP66-rated protection for harsh environmental conditions, a specialised ramshorn hook, load display, and a light and horn for overload indication. Both main and auxiliary hoists were provided with Extended Speed Range (ESR) for additional safety and control. “ESR was developed for high duty applications where near-capacity loads
are routinely lifted,” said Sanni Honkanen, project manager, Konecranes. “ESR uses inverter technology to allow
increased hoist speed for light loads. The faster hoist speed allows operators to return empty hooks to position or move smaller loads with more speed and and increasing productivity.” With the crane spanning 29.575m, and an important plant still operating at Synergy’s facility, the installation posed some interesting challenges. Removal of roof sections, or using large mobile plants were not possible options. “The new crane had one possible location where it could be installed. This was inside part of a building that is currently being decommissioned. A collaborative approach between Konecranes, Synergy and a mobile
crane vendor allowed the very restricted lift to be carried out safely and within a short timeframe,” said Steve Owen, mechanical also had to install 305 metres of busbar to power the crane the entire length of the turbine hall building.” Konecranes’ TRUCONNECT remote monitoring and reporting technology was installed on the crane, to allow collection of usage data, which can be accessed remotely from anywhere with an internet connection. It allows me to remotely keep track of the crane’s usage and allows me to ensure operators are operating the crane within its lifting capacity,” he said. “Konecranes provided us with local fabrication, a simple construction process and the ability to meet strict guidelines and demanding deadlines for the installation.”
38 | July 2021 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
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