Switzerland crane hire company, Emil Egger AG, has deployed four Liebherr cranes to help construct a new transshipment terminal in the Rhine port of Basel-Kleinhüningen.
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Completing the scope of work for Rhenus Port Logistics, Emil Egger was contracted to handle the logistics for the prefabricated concrete element. In order to complete its scope of work, the company deployed a 250-tonne LR 1250, a 1000-tonne LR 11000, an LTM 1350-6.1, and a 700-tonne capacity LTM 1650-8.1.
The project was immediately made difficult by the presence of neighbouring buildings and Südquaistrasse as well as by the Rhine, meaning accessibility to the construction area was highly restricted.
During the construction process, the LR 1250 stripped the formwork from the 64-tonne diagonal supports fabricated on-site and transported them to the construction site. The crane subsequently loaded the supports onto low-loaders for internal site transport.
In autumn, the LR 11000, the largest crawler crane in Switzerland, installed the crane track supports and external bone girders, moving two supports weighing 211 tonnes each over a 59m radius. Four additional supports, each weighing 265 tonnes, were moved over 45m. The crane was configured with a 72m long boom and V-frame.
The 1,000-tonne crawler crane’s other tasks included extending the wall panels, made from cast-in-place concrete, up to the final height of the hall. This was followed by the installation of 14 bone girders connecting the wall panels. Each lift involved a 140-tonne load at a radius of 44m and required meticulously planned assembly and dismantling processes due to the limited space.
The tasks assigned to the LTM 1350-6.1 included lifting the diagonal supports, from which the formwork had been stripped by the LR 1250, off the lorry and tilting them to the correct angle so that they could then be lifted into place. These supports cantilever freely over the water and will later support the crane girders.
Towards the end of the operation, the LTM 1650-8.1 took over, closing the gaps in the cast-in-place concrete wall panels and installing the last six bone girders. The new mobile crane lifted the beams, which weigh around 90 tonnes and are 32m long, at a radius of around 14m. To do this, the 650-tonne machine was required to drive within the construction site after installing each pair of beams.