The first of Grove’s new GMK6300L all-terrain cranes has entered service in Germany, where it is helping to erect wind turbines.
German rental company Schuch is using a GMK6300L to erect the first stages of a wind turbine at a site in Mensinghausen, near Hannover.
“This crane was perfect for erecting the first sections of this wind turbine,” said Winnie Backer, the crane’s operator for Schuch.
“We chose it because it is very strong, and we knew with the Megatrak suspension it would be easy to move on the rough ground.
“Another great feature is the crane’s availability to rig its own counterweight, which saved the need for an auxiliary crane and made things faster and less costly for our client. In addition, we were able to drive the crane on the job site with the full counterweight attached,” said Backer.
The crane erected tower sections of an Enercon E82 wind turbine, which has a 2.5MW output. To lift the tower sections, the GMK6300L extended its main boom to 31.5m and worked with its maximum counterweight of 92.5t. The full main boom of the crane extends to 80m. Manitowoc claims it is “the longest on any 300t-capacity crane”.
Manitowoc has also announced that its new Potain MD 560 B tower crane, a specialised design for infrastructure work, such as dams, bridges and other large construction jobs, has entered service at Madrid’s Atocha rail terminal – the largest in the Spanish capital.
The compamy said the MD 560 B has a 550tonne-meter rating and is available in 27.5 ton (25 tonne) or 44 ton (40 tonne) versions.
