SECTOR REPORT Ӏ HEAVY LIFTING


forces, and that will increase the weight. And it will also come with a lead time and a price tag. "The more we are in dialogue with each other around these types of topics, the easier it is to converge on an optimum solution in the end for the customer who is paying the bill.” It is simpler, he says, to lift


new-built structures than the old ones they may be replacing. “On a new reactor vessel or topside module, or whatever, the design drawings will tell you the volume of steel, and you know the density of steel, so you can work out the weight. And there are computer programmes that will work out the centre of gravity to the millimetre. “But on an old cat-cracker


reactor vessel, for example, the design sheets may long since have been lost, there may have been unrecorded strengthening panels welded on over the years, its walls will be lined with 50 years worth of accumulated residue... There are more unknowns. “And on lifts this heavy you really do not want to come across anything unexpected. Anything up to 15-20 people can be involved in the lift itself, and their safety is paramount. These are not the sort of lifts that you can adjust on the fly. You really want to know every meticulous detail well ahead of time in order to be sure that once the operation started you are going to feel comfortable and at ease, because an accident or the consequences of a poor safety record would have just enormous consequences for everybody involved.” Mammoet, of course, needs big


cranes – very big cranes indeed – to do these tasks. They have their new Focus 30 crane - their own design - which can lift 2,500 tonnes and which made its debut last year, on a refinery site in the UK. Its boom builds vertically – a response to changing conditions


for petrochemical and civil industry customers, where the trend is towards building from smaller footprints. Is designing a crane like this the same as designing a normal crane only several times


larger or do other special factors creep in as well?


“Looking at it one way, a crane is a crane is a crane,” Kerr says. “It is a mechanical device that has two primary failure modes. It has f


CRANES TODAY 17


Saren's Little Celeste electric ring crane IN uK


In March this year Sarens deployed its new SGC-90 electric ring crane for the first time in the UK, at a refinery in Pembroke. The task was to replace two columns. The crane, nicknamed 'Little Celeste', was developed in response to market demand for heavy lift cranes with capacities greater than 80,000 tonnes. Its ring diameter is 35 metres, maximum counterweight is 3,000 tonnes, and maximum load moment is 96,000 tonnes. It can be configured in a variety of ways, with main boom lengths of 100, 120, and 130 metres and a small jib of 200 tonnes. The unique aspect of the SGC-90 is that it is an electrical crane. While all other cranes in Sarens’


SGC series are hydraulic, the SGC-90 can be connected to the electric grid and be fully powered without a traditional fuel source. Little Celeste can even recover the electricity it generates each time it lowers a load. When connected to the national grid, it feeds it back to the grid, reducing energy consumption by up to 40%. Sarens say that customers who choose the SGC-90 can expect mobilisation and demobilisation of the crane to take approximately four to five weeks.


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