A Manitowoc 18000 is being used to lay foundations at the Hudson Yards redevelopment in New York City.
The $80bn, 11.3 hectare mixed-use redevelopment is expected to take around 12 years to complete, and will consist of 16 skyscrapers plus office, residential, and retail space.
The 600-tonne capacity Manitowoc crawler crane, which is being leased from Lomma Crane & Rigging by main contractor, Tutor Perini, is helping to install caisson cores of up to 73 tonnes in weight, and columns that weigh as much as 127 tonnes.
“Tutor Perini specifically requested this crane after seeing it construct the Transportation Hub at the new World Trade Center,” commented Lomma’s Sal Isola.
“The company needed this kind of capacity, but since space is very limited on the job site, it would not be able to use a counterweight wagon or any auxiliary attachments,” he added.
The lack of a wagon means that there is no need for the contractor to place mats and steel reinforcements on the platform. This also enables the crane to remain mobile, as additional ground preparation doesn’t need to take place every time the Manitowoc 180000 is moved.
On site, the crawler has been rigged with 61m of boom and 30.5m of fixed mast. The crane has been set up with full counterweight: 239.5 tonnes of upper counterweight and 145 tonnes of carbody counterweight. No jibs or attachments are necessary for the Hudson Yards project.
“The engineers at Tutor Perini knew what the Manitowoc 18000 could do when they chose the crane for the project,” said Isola.
“This crane is known for its tremendous capacity by everyone in the industry. We have two of them in our fleet at Lomma that are always been utilised by someone,” he explained.
Tutor Perini, which leased the Manitowoc 18000 from Lomma in 2014, is using the crane as its primary tool to construct Hudson Yards’ foundation. The redevelopment is expected to complete in 2024.
