Kuwait-based crane service provider Integrated Logistics Company (ILC) employs the Demag CC 8800-1 lattice boom crawler crane regularly for projects that involve extremely heavy loads. With a rated lifting capacity of 1,600 tonnes, the Demag CC 8800-1 by itself is a powerful crane; when combined with the optional ‘boom booster’ kit, the lifting capacity of the CC 8800-1 is increased by up to 90 percent depending on the configuration, enhancing its applications in the class of up to 2,000 tonnes.
Manoj Kumar, general manager, Integrated Logistics Co., says: “Whenever we have to move extreme loads at a large height and a wide radius, we opt for the CC 8800-1. The reason is simple: when equipped with the boom booster, the crane can handle lifts that would normally require two cranes.”
For example, ILC used the CC 8800-1 when lifting 240-tonne spudcans as well as jack-up legs that weighed up to 246 tonnes for the Rumailah Lift Boat at the shipyard in Ras Laffan for Qatari customer Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM). The spudcans had a diameter of 14.7m and height of 7.4m, while the jack-up legs had a length of 40m and width of 8.20m. The biggest challenge was that the heavy loads had to be moved at a formidable radius of 67m, a task which the CC 8800-1 was able to handle with the boom booster.
ILC used a barge to transport the CC 8800-1 from the company’s branch in Kuwait directly to the shipyard in Qatar. At the site, the crane was set up with a BSFL boom booster configuration with an 82m main boom and a 72m extension in ten days. In order to pick up the loads, a ten-person team used two 400-tonne hooks with two wire ropes and five-part reeving. This enabled the CC 8800-1 to lift all parts, move under load on the shipyard area that had been reinforced for the large weight, and finally swing the parts to the desired locations.
“Being able to handle the job with the CC 8800-1 alone enabled us to execute the job much faster and much more cost-effectively than would have been the case with two cranes. We completed the project within the agreed timeframe of two months and without any problem,” says Manoj.
Another application of the boom booster kit was by ILC was for lifting several reactors and distillation columns for Sinopec at the Al-Zour oil refinery in Kuwait.
ILC needed 55 truck runs to transport the crane 50 km from its headquarters to the work site. At the site, a ten-person team set up the crawler crane with a BSFVL configuration with an 86m main boom and 12m extension offset by 10°. In order to be able to pick up the heavy loads safely, the CC 8800-1 was equipped with two 800-tonne hooks and 20 part reeving.
The maximum load for the job weighed over 800 tonnes: more specifically, the CC 8800-1 had to lift a 65.27m-long, 813.4-tonne distillation column with a diameter of 8.80m at a radius of 20m, rotate, and move under load. A second crawler crane helped pick up the component until the load was suspended from the CC 8800-1’s hook in a vertical position.
“We’d scheduled ten days for the entire setup process. In addition to the boom booster, the column-lifting fixture we used proved to be enormously helpful for this job. Our team was able to complete all lifts within a month as scheduled and to the full satisfaction of the customer,” says Manoj.