KNUCKLE BOOMS Ӏ WIDER PERSPECTIVE
and versatile, too. The (generally) two or three hinge-points and the (generally) three or four jib sections can reach a good distance from the truck they are mounted on, and deposit their load in the places that are most convenient for the construction team that will use it – even if those places are otherwise hard to access. These cranes could be made by Hiab, or by Fassi, or by Effer, or by Palfinger or one of half-a-dozen other familiar names, many of them Italian or Scandinavian. And that is the end of the knuckle boom story... Actually, of course, it's not! The design of the knuckle boom makes it good for many other purposes. And it is scalable – both down and up. For example, variants on the knuckle boom form the superstructure of many a mini-crane while, upwards, giant truck-mounted knuckle booms can take up the entire chassis-length of a large lorry and are generally used for heavy on-site lifting. Ship- maritime versions can be larger still and are becoming a staple of the offshore power industry: their flexibility and reach make them ideal for windfarm work. As we said, we shall examine the loader crane in a later article (December 2025). Here, though, we shall look at some areas where knuckle booms are used for other, often almost exotic, purposes.
A Huisman marine Knuckleboom crane
FISH FARMING Austria-headquartered crane manufacturer Palfinger has been a knuckle boom specialist for many years and its loader cranes are widely seen on trucks. But the company also has a marine division which also largely specialises in knuckle booms. A mainstay of the marine division’s knuckle boom portfolio is its PFM series, which ranges up to the 32000-14000kg capacity PFM 4500. And Palfinger is currently expanding the series. In September 2024 it launched
A An Erkin
knuckleboom at full extension
the PFM2100. It has a maximum outreach of 29 metres-plus and a lifting capacity of 4000 kg at full extension. The crane was developed specifically for the aquaculture industry, plus the service and workboat sectors.
In August this year, at the
Aqua Nor aquaculture show in Trondheim, Norway, Palfinger added one more crane to the range: the PFM 1500. It is a smaller sibling of the 2100. Its maximum outreach is 26.7 metres and the lifting capacity is 3350 kg at full extension. It, like its bigger brother, has Palfinger’s patented P-profile extension boom system, which gives a wide range of movement and outreach but still provides strength and stiffness.
SUBSURFACE SECTOR Netherlands-headquartered Huisman is well-known for its maritime operations. The company designs, manufactures and services heavy lifting equipment for companies in the renewable energy, oil and gas, port logistics, civil, and entertainment markets and knuckle booms form a large part of its offerings. Frequently these are used for
subsurface lifting. Thus, in April, the company signed a contract with Greek shipowner Capital Offshore for the delivery of four state-of- the-art knuckle boom cranes for use in the offshore energy sector. The cranes will be integrated into platform supply vessels (PSVs) currently under construction at the Fujian Mawei shipyard in China
34 CRANES TODAY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63
