December 2 - ALE's Argentina branch has used the largest crane operating in the country - a Liebherr LR11350 crawler crane - to complete its role in YPF's Nuevo Coke project.
For one part of the project, ALE was contracted to transport and lift three coke drums, weighing 435 tonnes each, at the YPF refinery in Buenos Aires. This move first involved transporting the drums within the refinery from the storage area to the coke drum building using four 22-axle lines of conventional trailers.
The coke drums were then lifted using the 1,350-tonne capacity LR11350 crane with P boom, operating in four different crane configurations. In order to reduce the ground-bearing pressure when performing the lift, load spreading mats of ALE's AL.SK crane were utilised in the crane area.
ALE also weighed, transported and lifted derricks and coke drum structures, as well as transporting and installing several columns and other heavy components.
"In this project we faced several challenges; working to install such large, heavy coke drums in a small working area filled with obstacles such as trees and buildings. Because of the client's schedule, the heaviest pieces needed to be lifted during the windy season, which posed another challenge," explained Herán Asensio, ALE project manager.
"By using the LR11350 crane with P boom and four configurations, we were able to optimise the manoeuvres in the limited space we had available and minimise the removal of any obstacles."
