September 13 - In Germany, Crane service providers, Ulferts & Wittrock, Wagenborg Nedlift and Sarens worked together to lift the 120 m long St
Before the cranes could start work the 1,200-tonne bridge had to be positioned so that it would be ready for lifting. This first required two modular heavy haulage vehicles to move the steel bridge to a designated place on the riverbank, where a pontoon was waiting. After the vehicle in front had driven onto the pontoon with the bridge, the rear vehicle pushed the pontoon to the other side of the river, where another vehicle was waiting to continue the move.
Once the bridge was aligned parallel to the piers, the teams were able to sling the load. On one side of the river, the Sarens team set up their CC 6800 crane with a stationary SSL 50 m configuration, which lifted 600 tonnes of the bridge's weight. On the opposite bank, Wagenborg's CC 2500-1 crane, with an SSL 42 m configuration, together with Ulferts & Wittrock's new Superlift 3800, with a 42 m main boom and superlift tray, split equally and picked up the remaining 600 tonnes.
After about five hours the job was completed and another gap in the expansion project for the A23 autobahn between Hamburg and Heide had been closed.
See a video of the operation here: http://youtu.be/QW2G_vTwKhM
