Joyce Krane has built a reputation for being early embracers of crane innovation and this has been reinforced with the arrival of the Liebherr LG 1800-1.0 – the first in the country. James Joyce, Joyce Krane General Manager discusses the reasons behind the purchase.
“For many years, Liebherr has been our ‘go to brand’ when it comes to large capacity all terrains,” James said.
“We purchased the LG 1750 in late 2010 early 2011. At the time our largest capacity Liebherr was a 400 tonne all terrain. We were receiving enquiries for lifts which we couldn’t handle, and we were hiring in cranes for this work. With everything getting larger and heavier, we knew we had to have a large capacity all terrain in our fleet, and we needed to look after our own back yard, so we invested in the LG 1750. At the time this was a ground-breaking crane being a lattice boom on a mobile carrier.”
Initially, the work for the LG 1750 was quite sporadic. Joyce Krane had work in the oil and gas, mining and infrastructure sectors but it wasn’t until the emergence of the renewable energy sector, that the crane really hit its straps.
“For us, the LG 1750 has realised its full potential towards the end of its working life and still continues to be a well utilised asset in the wind farm construction and maintenance sectors,” said James. “Liebherr did release the SX boom system which was designed to upgrade performance in terms of hoist height and lifting capacity, but because our crane was one of the earlier designed LG 1750s, upgrading it to the SX boom system would not have been commercially viable, which is why we didn’t undertake the upgrade.
“We did look at the LG 1750 SX3, but at the time we felt this model was nearing the end of its design life and we had heard that Liebherr was working on a significant upgrade to the model with the 800 tonne capacity LG 1800-1.0. So, we waited for the release of the model and moved as soon as we could.”
Liebherr released details of the LG 1800-1.0 in late 2023. It is the successor to its highly appraised LG 1750 – a crane that came in for high acclaim thanks to the design’s combination of the mobility of a mobile crane and the load capacity of a crawler crane.
The LG 1800-1.0 possesses a maximum lifting capacity of 800 tonne and, akin to its crawler relative in the Liebherr range, the LR 1800-1.0, holds a main boom option of up to 180 metres long and a main-boom-plus-luffing-jib combination providing a maximum hook height of 208 metres. The crane features a chassis width of three metres and is capable of climbing up gradients of 25 per cent making the crane “ideal” for the wind industry, according to Liebherr.
Further optimising the crane for the wind industry is the machine’s enhanced wind power boom systems that make it possible to work with a boom of 174 metre and an 18 metre long lattice-type fixed jib at hub heights of 180 metres, as well as the wind speed load charts with different permissible wind speeds of up to 13.4 metres per second.
Liebherr’s LG 1800-1.0 has also been designed to facilitate easier transport. Labelling the crane as “suitable for all markets” worldwide, Liebherr says the nine-axle vehicle features an axle-load of ten tonnes with all four supports, meaning the crane is accessible to public roads. Additionally, transport of the mobile lattice-boom crane is possible with only two supports and a total weight of 70 tonnes, as well as completely without supports at around 50 tonnes. The crane comes with the latest in Liebherr technology too, such as V-Frame, VarioTray, ZF Traxon Torque transmission with EcoDrive, and the aforementioned Windspeed Charts.
One of the major differences between the LG 1800-1.0 and the LG 1750 is that the folding beams on the new 800-tonne machine are not telescopic. The required support base of 13x13m is sufficient for the LG 1800-1.0 to achieve enormous load capacities with the derrick system, and “very good” erectable lengths without the derrick system, according to the manufacturer.
Joyce Krane was impressed with what it saw on paper and the new LG 1800-1.0 has impressed in real life.
“Liebherr has redesigned the crane with shorter boom sections, better boom configurations and with counterweights that are 10 tonne rather than 12.5t. Those three features make the crane far more transportable and easier to build and configure for different applications,” said James. “Our LG 1750 was ideal for oil and gas, mining and infrastructure wind farm work, this machine is doing all that type of work and much more. The LG 1800-1.0 has a much higher boom reach and lifting capacity which means it will remain contemporary for the construction of wind turbines as they get taller and the componentry gets heavier.
“When it comes to large capacity cranes like this, transportation is one of the biggest issues. Liebherr has designed the LG 1800-1.0 with shorter boom sections which means we are able to nest more sections on a trailer and the 10t counterweights are easier to transport. The superstructure is easy to lift, and the carrier is too. All in all, it is a pretty good package.”
Joyce Krane was also one of the first importers of the LTM 1750-9.1, 800t all terrain crane into Australia. With the investment in the new LG 1800-1.0, the company continues its pioneering role in developing markets for new large crane models in Australia.
Joyce Krane has been working with Liebherr for many years and is happy with the product as well as support and service.
“We work well with Liebherr, we have a strong relationship with the brand and the people that work behind it,” said James. “Our fleet of all terrains are all Liebherr’s, and capacities go right through to our two 800t LTM 1750-9.1s.
“Service and support are critical for any crane hire business, and we are no different. We receive great support from Stefan DeSilva and his team. Whatever the issue they are on to it and have it resolved as quickly as possible. We couldn’t want for anything more in a partnership.”