A Manitowoc 18000 has pulled off a series of 230-tonne lifts at a gas processing plant in southwest Russia.
The 18000 worked to a tight deadline at the Kazachya plant in Anapa to install 10 giant absorbers, which weighted up to 230 tonnes each.
The 750-tonne crawler is owned and operated by lifting specialist, SWTRANS, and is one of the largest working in Russia today.
“Once again, the 18000 crawler crane’s impressive reach and lift capabilities, combined with a simple erection plan, proved to be the difference on what would have been an otherwise tough job site,” said Egorov Roman Valerievich, heavy equipment engineer at SWTRANS.
“With a piece of advanced machinery such as this crane available to customers, SWTRANS can transport and install even the largest loads, allowing us to meet the growing demand for oversized transport and assembly in Russia,” he added.
The 18000 travelled more than 5,000km to the gas plant from its previous project. Once on site, the team from SWTRANS assembled the crane with a 42m boom.
Before each of the giant absorbers arrived at the plant, the crane was manoeuvred into position to offload and move the units into place. In addition to weighing up to 230 tonnes per piece, each absorber was 22m tall and 6m wide.
The 18000 was selected due to its 600-tonne capacity and the 98m reach of the main boom. The crawler’s capacity can be increased to 750 tonnes via Manitowoc’s MAX-ER attachment. Its reach, meanwhile, can be extended to 160m through the luffing jib.
The work at the Kazachya plant took place as part of the Southern Corridor project, which will supply gas to the Kazachya region and secure the supply to central and southern regions of Russia. The giant absorbers are used to remove moisture and impurity from the gas.
