A tandem crane lift has been carried out in Kuwait on a major project in using Demag machines from Terex.
The two machines have been used on the Kuwaiti government’s Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Causeway Project. This 36km-long road connection is among the world’s largest infrastructure projects underway at present. The project includes a 27km-long bridge over Kuwait Bay.
The Kuwaiti logistics service provider Integrated Logistics Company (ILC) is carrying out key sections of the project, moving pre-assembled concrete supports to a construction site near Sabiya. The firm was commissioned for this task by the Kuwaiti construction ministry. For this task, ILC used its new Demag AC 300-6 cranes, the first units of this type delivered by the German plant in Zweibrücken to an international customer.
According to ILC, the versatility of the machines was a key factor in its purchase of the units. The two Demag AC 300-6 cranes had to lift precast concrete components from a hydraulic dolly type trailer with a turn table system and place them in each pre-planned position. Because the steel-reinforced concrete elements weighed 105tonnes each, were approximately 37m long, 1m wide, and 2.3m high, the work was best done with a tandem lift.
However, before the lifting could be done, the two Demag AC 300-6 cranes had to be brought to the construction site. This involved a 130km-long drive from the ILC yard in Mina Abdullah through the desert. The cranes were accompanied by four tractor-trailer rigs, which transported the required counterweight of approximately 50tonnes, as well as other equipment necessary for the work. The crane operators needed two hours with the help of two riggers apiece to set up the cranes.
For the subsequent tandem lift, the cranes were outfitted with 24.4m-long main booms, a counterweight of 26.7tonnes, and an 80tonne hook block with seven-part reeving. An outrigger support base of 8.68 x 8.48m provided the required stability. Rigged this way, the cranes were prepared to lift the two 105tonne concrete beams from the lowbed trailer in two steps in a tandem lift, swivel them sideways in a radius of 9m, and lower them at the specified place in the desert sand. The ILC team was able to complete the job in just one day.
The Heavy-Duty Lifting and Assembly division of ILC operates across the entire Middle East. Its focal points are in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and in the United Arab Emirates. For large projects, ILC has a fleet that includes cranes with lifting capacities up to 2,300tonnes, excavators, compactors, and bulldozers.
ILC also recently added two new Demag CC 3800-1 lattice boom crawler cranes as well as two new LR 1300 crawler cranes from Liebherr to further expand its fleet.
