UAE crane service provider Al Faris recently deployed a team in Hamriyah in the UAE, one of the biggest shipyards in the region, to lift three 72m, 130t spud legs from a barge – a job that required not only a powerful crane, but also the right touch.
According to Al Faris, the Demag CC 3800-1 proved to be the perfect machine for the project. Explaining why the company decided on this crane, Hillary Pinto, founder and MD of the Al Faris Group, said: “Once we determined all the required parameters for the three lifts, we decided that our CC 3800-1 was the best possible fit for the job.”
However, the unit first had to be transported to the work-site. The company’s own lowbed trailers needed 10 hours to complete the 82km journey from the Al Faris location in Dubai Industrial City to the work site. Al Faris’ own all-terrain cranes were used to set up the CC 3800-1.
At the work site, Al Faris used 10 specialised team members to get the crane ready to operate. The team decided on a configuration with a 108m main boom and a Superlift mast with a length of 36m. The central ballast totalled 50t, the Superlift counterweight 325t, and the counterweight on the superstructure 165t.
Once set up this way, the CC 3800-1 was ready to lift the three spud legs with a gross weight of 130t each at a maximum radius of 50m, swing them to the side, and set them in place with the help of a 150t crawler crane.
The CC 3800-1 only used 68% of its available rated capacity for the lifts, with the Superlift Split Tray proving especially useful for the project. This makes it possible to easily uncouple the counterweight when it is no longer required for the ongoing job, so that the crane can then move with only the Superlift counterweight still needed.
