A selection of Manitowoc crawler cranes are continuing to support construction at Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Dunkirk, France.
Five Manitowoc units, with capacities ranging from 250 tonnes to 400 tonnes, have been deployed to the $1.25bn project by Dutch lifting specialist, Crane House.
Most recently, the crawlers, which have been operating up to 24 hours per day, employed specially designed concrete buckets to pour concrete for the terminal jetty.
“Working on such an expansion project asks a lot of these cranes, plus the seafront location means they are battered by strong winds and challenging weather,” commented Julian Agostini, business development director at Crane House.
“But the Manitowoc crawlers haven’t let us down. They have been working continuously to a very high standard, and we are very impressed by their versatility and ease of use. They are the ideal solution for a variety of demanding tasks,” he explained.
Crane House sent a Manitowoc 16000 and a 2250 to the LNG terminal back in 2011. The original duo worked for six months during the initial phase of the development, helping to install underwater foundations and to build a floating flat barge.
In August 2013, as the project entered its second phase, another Manitowoc 16000 was deployed to the job site. The units clearly made a solid impression with the project manager as a Manitowoc 2250 and a 15000 were enlisted soon after.
Four of the Manitowoc cranes were used along the shoreline, whilst the other was assembled on an offshore platform to provide better lift capacity across the project’s waterfront area. Despite the challenging location, this unit was erected by Crane House’s engineers in just three days.
Two of the five-strong Manitowoc crawler fleet remain working at the job site: the 15000 and the 16000, which with a 400-tonne capacity, is the largest crane active at the project. The LNG terminal, which is being delivered by a Vinci-led consortium, is due to complete in Q4 2015.
