Heavy-duty equipment manufacturer N.C. Nielsen has introduced its HH Pick and Carry range for handling heavy loads in factories, warehouses and port areas.
These machines would operate as a hybrid between an SPMT trailer and a crane, with lifting capacities from 200-500 tonnes. The equipment is designed to allow the width of the chassis legs to be adjusted, making them suited to handling wind turbine towers with diameters of up to 8-10 m.
The HH Pick and Carry cranes can be operated remotely by a walking operator, from the platform or the cabin. The design allows high visibility for the user, a small walking width and includes a safety package featuring cameras and laser lights.
“In 2013, N.C. Nielsen brought the first 100-tonne reach stacker for single lifting onto the market. Today, we offer up to 180 tonnes. The new solution is based on requests from the wind turbine industry for very heavy lifting. We’ve focused on working smarter in less space, despite the goods having grown much larger. So the HH Pick and Carry machines are a natural development in our strategy,” said Jørgen Peter Lund, sales manager at N.C. Nielsen.
The HH Pick and Carry range comprises three models. The tower mover is suited to wind turbine towers and elongated structures. Second, the multi-handler is designed for lifting monopiles, transition pieces, nacelles and other indivisible loads. The final model is the mobile straddle transporter, which can be used alone for heavy lifting tasks, or in combination with the other two basic models. N.C. Nielsen said this model can run over the entire item if two machines are needed to lift cargoes aboard ro-ro vessels, for instance.
The machines can have extra equipment installed such as a hydraulic beak or an intermediate yoke. The HH Pick and Carry can also be purchased in all-electric or hybrid variants.
“The wind turbine industry has many time-bound projects and mobile lifting machines come with many options and low installation costs compared to stationary harbour cranes, overhead travelling cranes etc. and are relatively simple to move from site to site. They optimise logistics and can manoeuvre in a relatively small working space, which is often the reality at a port terminal, for example,” added Lund.
N.C. Nielsen is exhibiting this concept at the WindEnergy Hamburg exhibition, which runs September 24-27. The company said it is in dialogue with several potential customers regarding the HH Pick and Carry range.
