December 7 - Sarens Group utilised its Terex CC 8800-1 to lift and install a 641-tonne distillation column on the US Gulf Coast.
In order to lift the 87.1 m piece of petrochemical equipment, Sarens mobilised its 1,600-tonne lift capacity Terex CC 8800-11 crawler crane. However, the distillation column needed to be set at a 28 m radius and required a 96 m main boom length. In this configuration with the planned counterweight package, the CC 8800-1's capacity would be just over 736 tonnes - not quite enough to make the required lift.
Sarens equipped the crawler with Terex's Boom Booster kit, which increases the crane's capacity. "Our Boom Booster allows our 1,764-ton (1,600-tonne) class crane to out lift any crane model in the 1,100- to 2,200-US ton (1,000- to 2,000-tonne) class and some 3,300-US ton (3,000-tonne) capacity cranes under certain conditions," says Guntram Jakobs, product marketing manager for Terex Cranes.
The Boom Booster's lower and upper adapter segments flare out to 10 m wide, almost three times the standard boom width, which enhances the crane's structural integrity and increases lift capacities. Five, 10 m intermediate segments offer up to 50 m system length needs.
Travis Stav, Sarens' engineering manager, observed: "This increased the crane's lifting capacities by 5 percent for this configuration, giving us the necessary increased capacity and rigging headroom to lift the vessel."
Sarens organised a convoy of 92 trailers to load the CC 8800-1 crane components for the 320 km journey to the Gulf Coast construction site. "Since this is a series-produced crane none of its components are wider than 11.5 ft (3.5 m). And they all can be stripped down to a shipping weight of less than 44 US tons (40 tonnes)," said Jakobs.
As the trailers entered the jobsite, Sarens' 15-person crew began to assemble the crane, which took eight days to complete.
The crane was configured with a 108 m main boom and crews placed 470 tonnes of counterweight on the Superlift tray, which was operated at a 30 m radius. "Throughout the entire lift the CC 8800-1 crane ran smoothly," said Stav. "The operator was able to provide precise movements requested by the client to position the load with ease."
