An in-depth look at Lampson Australia’s biggest lifters

Lampson imported the first 1000 tonne Transi-Lift into Australia in 1990 for the Shell Refineries in Sydney and Geelong – both plants were undergoing major turnarounds that required installation of regenerators, fractionators, converters and vessels utilising the long boom, long radius and high capacity of the Transi-Lift was otherwise not locally available.

Various models of LTL were designed and introduced by Lampson International and in turn Lampson Australia received the full range into its permanent Australian based working fleet from 1990, with significant improvements over the years.

The Transi-Lift was first established to revolutionise the USA nuclear plant construction in 1970’s; it then became an integral part of ongoing modernisation for petrochemical, civil, mining, marine and other heavy construction industries in several countries.

The Lampson Transi-Lift crane, that is designed and built inhouse, is perfectly suited to long radius and heavy lift operations; at full capacity and when unloaded it has very low ground bearing pressure which is an advantage for greenfield and brownfield sites.

It is mobile under full load without reduction to the rated charts and does not require reconfiguration by outside assist cranes before or after each lift to stack or unstack counterweight. There are six models of Lampson Transi-Lift cranes permanently based in Australia.

What gap does the Transi-Lift fill in the Lampson Australia fleet?

The Lampson Transi-Lift cranes have a range from the smaller LTL-350 to the gigantic LTL-2600 and they predominantly provide heavy lift solutions that standard crawler or all-terrain cranes do not address.

One advantage of the Transi-Lift is the ability to transform from a heavy lift crane down to a standard crawler crane.

Within the LTL range are models that use a standard crawler crane as a base and with the attachment of a heavy lift boom and a Lampson Crawler Transporter, there are two cranes in one; this can provide a cost-effective solution to sites that require both smaller and heavy lift cranes throughout the project lifespan.

What is the effectiveness of the Transi-Lift?

An LTL travels to site on normal road going sized trailers and they are unloaded and assembled starting with the crawlers and counterweight carrier.

Transi-Lifts are mobile so they can be assembled away from the workface; this can avoid congestion and, once built, can be walked into position to perform the work required.

The large lifting capacity at radius provides opportunity to stand the crane further away and minimise impact on foundations, avoid additional expense of powering down operating plant or reduce congestion of other site works.

The lifting capacity is certainly the most important aspect of the LTL, however there are many other benefits such as mobility under load, the small and adjustable ground contact footprint along with counterweight options, the various configurations of boom and jib that are available for long or high reach applications.

Lampson is working to install remote control in the Transi-Lift crawler transporters; this allows control of the entire crane by a single operator. Earlier models utilised operators in each crawler transporter and now with this advancement, the cost of labour will be reduced to that of a single person.

The possibility of automating some functions is also being explored. Large scale projects involving bridge building and wharf construction are currently being tendered where the ability of long radius reach is a key factor for success.

What are the capabilities of the Transi-Lift fleet?

The smallest LTL-350 utilises a Manitowoc 4100 Millennium at the rear and CT-600 under the boom. The LTL-350 can transform between heavy lift mode and standard 200 tonne crawler crane.

Lampson’s Manitowoc 4600 Millenium connects to the LTL-750 attachment with CT-800 under the front to provide heavy lifting capabilities greater than a typical 600-750 tonne crawler with Max-er counterweight.

The heavy lift LTL-1100 has always been a class leader in capacity and reach – this machine can be configured with 121m of main boom whilst lifting 360 tonnes.

Each LTL can also have up to 60m of jib at various offset angles, which has been used for long and high reaching applications, such as over existing industrial facilities, oil platforms or wind turbines.

Lampson’s largest capacity crane in Australia is the LTL-2600 which can carry up to 2400 tonne of counterweight and configure a stinger length between the crawlers of 24 or 37m, providing a significant maximum moment of 72,300 tonne-metre or lift 1446 tonne at 50m radius as an example of capacity.

What do the customers say about the Transi-Lift?

The most impressive features include the ability to change configurations to suit specific applications; during project planning Lampson can adjust the amount of counterweight, stinger length, mast length, boom and jib to suit the project requirements.

Even the track widths of Crawler Transporters can be changed to vary ground bearing area to suit. The ability to adapt and configure cranes to suit specific tasks minimises the cost of transport, only moving the parts needed and the minimal required machine weight, which also increases other handling efficiencies.

The modernisation of the LTL design is continuously being improved; earlier advancements included boom mounted hydraulic winches and programmable operator displays and joysticks among others.

The incorporation of other base crane models into the LTL range will further increase the versatility and application of the Transi-Lifts.

Will the LTL-3000 make its way to Australia? (currently in US).

If there was a need beyond the LTL-2600 that we already have then it could be loaded onboard a ship in road going sizes and weights from the USA.

The larger LTLs can require up to 100 truckloads of components and counterweight, subject to configuration.

The ability to fill counterweight boxes with local ballast material can minimise the volume and cost of transport.

Booms and mast sections disassemble into 12m lengths where 4 inserts can travel on the same standard trailer, saving further transport costs.

Tell us about Lampson Australia’s strong support systems?

Lampson International and the Australian offices provide complete engineering support for the Transi-Lift range.

Ground bearing pressure calculations and crane operation drawings are provided by Lampson engineering for every project.

Heavy Lift engineering is an integral part of the service that Lampson supplies; Lampson also has specialised rigging hardware in stock and the ability to design and manufacture custom rigging for all LTL heavy lifts.

As with any highly specialised machine, the operation and application of these cranes is best completed by experienced and skilled technicians; all of which are available from Lampson.