CRAWLER CRANES Ӏ COMPANY PROFILE
LoGICAL pRoGRESSIoN
Stuart Anderson charts Liebherr’s logical development of large crawler cranes.
Last October saw the delivery of the third 1,000-tonne Liebherr LR 11000 crawler crane to the leading Austrian crane rental and heavy transport group Felbermayr. Having been one of the very first companies to purchase an LR 11000 in 2014, this latest delivery illustrates the continued expansion of the wind power market as well as the growth in the height and power of wind turbines and commensurate size of the cranes needed to perform this most-challenging of applications. These past couple of years have seen Liebherr’s businesses in both Ehingen and Nenzing significantly step-up their crawler crane development efforts. “Like music to my ears,” said
Erik Kynningsrud, president of Norwegian crane rental group Kynningsrud Nordic Crane on the introduction of Liebherr Nenzing’s new series of battery-electric powered ‘unplugged’ models. Already announced are the 130-tonne LR 1130.1 ‘unplugged; 160-tonne LR 1160.1 ‘unplugged’, 200-tonne LR 1200.1 ‘unplugged’ and 250-tonne LR 1250.1 ‘unplugged. The first of these ‘unplugged’ cranes – models LR 1160.1 and LR 1250.1 have been delivered to the UK’s Select Plant Hire with a further three units on order while Kynningsrud has also
24 CRANES TODAY
taken delivery of an LR 1250.1. In idling mode the sound
pressure level at a distance of 16m is equivalent to that of a normal conversation at a distance of one metre i.e. 60 dB(A), The battery life is eight hours and the batteries can be fast charged in 21/2
hours. Erik Kynningsrud explained
the company's choice saying, “In Norway we have the challenge that our government want us to have zero emission construction sites and we want to be a leading company for these projects. We always try to be a green alternative.” He especially welcomes Liebherr’s plans for smaller 130 and 160-tonne unplugged LR 1130.1 and LR 1160.1 models. The well- established Norwegian company built its reputation on tele boom all terrains but says that the new electric lattice cranes have been very well-received, commenting upon their “operational smoothness”, adding that his operators had now adjusted to the lack of an accelerator pedal. These battery-electric powered
cranes represent possibly the most significant technological advancement seen in the crawler crane business for decades. It’s a trend likely to influence many sectors of the mobile lifting machinery sector. Similarly- powered tele handlers and wheel
loaders have been very-well received. Already announced is a battery-electric powered 25-tonne capacity Marchetti tele boom crawler crane and it’s known that Sany has a battery-electric 80-tonne tele boom crawler crane in the pipeline. The extent of the radical
revision of Liebherr’s crawler lift crane line runs to its 400, 700 and 800 tonne classes. For Liebherr the introduction of the 400 tonne LR 1400SX may be viewed as a natural, though possibly overdue, development since it’s Nenzing’s largest ever crawler lift crane - replacing Ehingen’s the LR 1400/2. Originally introduced in 1980 and enhanced to become the LR 1400/1 in 1998 with the development of the option of an innovative two-axle steerable counterweight trailer coupled to the crane by an extendable- telescopic arm, the LR 1400/2 first saw the light of day in 2001. The LR 1400/2 quickly established itself in crane fleets worldwide and no doubt Liebherr will be hoping that the new LR 1400SX follows in its footsteps. One new and most welcome features of the LR 1400SX is its gradient aid which hopefully will help nullify tipping accidents often prevalent on undulating windfarm jobs. Significantly some 15 years ago,
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