UAE-based crane service provider Al Faris Group used a Demag CC 3800-1 lattice boom crawler crane to lift three 72-meter-long, 130-tonne spud legs from a barge at the Hamriyah shipyard. The unit was transported to the work site using Al Faris’ lowbed trailers, which needed around ten hours to complete the 82-kilometer journey from the Al Faris location in Dubai Industrial City to the work site. Al Faris’ all terrain cranes were used to set up the CC 3800-1.
At the work site, Al Faris used 10 of their specialized team members to get the crane ready to operate. The team decided on a configuration with a 108-meter-long main boom and a Superlift mast with a length of 36 meters. The central ballast totaled 50 tonnes; the Superlift counterweight, 325 tonnes; and the counterweight on the superstructure, 165 tonnes. Once set up this way, the CC 3800-1 was ready to lift the three spud legs, having a gross weight of 130 tonnes each, at a maximum radius of 50 meters, swing them to the side, and then set them in place with the help of a 150-tonne crawler crane. The CC 3800-1 only used 68% of its available rated capacity for the lifts.Â
Hillary Pinto, founder and managing director, Al Faris Group, said: “Once we determined all the required parameters for the three lifts, we decided that our CC 3800-1 was the best possible fit for the job. Setting up the slinging gear at a height of around 80 meters is an enormous challenge that required a lot of skill. Both, lifting and setting the unwieldy steel structures was quite an impressive feat. The quick coupling technology helped us save a lot of time at the shipyard. The Superlift split tray proved to be especially useful for the project. This tray makes it possible to easily uncouple the counterweight when it is no longer required for the ongoing job, so that the crane can then move only with the superlift counterweight that is still needed. Fortunately, the weather played nice at all times and there were no space issues at the large shipyard facilities.”
