Tower cranes from Marr Contracting (The Men From Marr’s) are not a common sight on construction sites in the Middle East. But, when they appear, they’re often the largest luffing jib cranes on the planet working on some of the biggest projects in the region.
The Marr M2480D heavy lift luffing (HLL) crane, which can lift 330 tonnes at a 15-metre radius making it the largest capacity tower crane in the world, has been an integral part of projects such as the One Za’abeel and ICD Brookfield Place in Dubai, UAE; Alba Potline 6 expansion in Bahrain; and 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey.
In 2020 alone, the M2480D has completed two world-record lifts – a 155-tonne lift at a height of 318 metres for construction of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and a 255-tonne lift for construction of a Sydney Metro station in Australia.
Such lifts are anything but ordinary and require specialized engineering and operational expertise, which Marr Contracting has gained during the last 90 years having provided craneage solutions for several large-scale projects around the world, mainly in the construction, mining, oil and gas, energy, and transportation sectors.
Simon Marr, managing director, The Men From Marrs (Marr Contracting), says: “We prefer projects that need bespoke lifting solutions. What sets us apart is the way we approach every lifting job, with the aim to eliminate complexity from the job.”
Complexity in a heavy lifting job could arise from improper planning that results in too many cranes assigned to a job or selection of the wrong crane for a job. It’s important to get this balance right, according to Simon.
“The goal should be to minimize the total number of cranes as well as number of lifts. That’s possible only with early engagement with project stakeholders. We formulate detailed engineered lift plans and engage with customers in every stage of a project,” he says.
Marr Contracting prides itself as big thinkers and problem solvers who love a challenge, and not just a crew and cranes for hire. The company’s philosophy is “if the right crane solution for your job doesn’t already exist, we’ll build one for you.”
Simon explains: “Crane rental is only one component of our end-to-end service. If we were only a crane hire company, we would be limited to what manufacturers offer and what they dictate in terms of the potential of a heavy lifting system. To eliminate all possible complexities of lifting at jobsites, we need to push the boundaries set by crane manufacturers. Therefore, we do not buy cranes off the shelf. We design all our cranes ourselves; our R&D team based in Australia constantly works on overcoming the limitations of heavy lifting by developing new crane designs and testing new materials. By providing the right craneage solution for a project, we enable customers to focus better on the crucial aspects of construction and delivery of their projects.”
The design and manufacturing of Marr’s cranes are distributed across Australia, Malaysia, Bahrain and UAE. The main structures of the cranes are engineered and built in collaboration with the Favelle Facvo Group in Malaysia, and components such as travel systems are designed in-house and then fabricated and assembled in Marr’s production facilities in Australia, Bahrain and UAE.
Currently, Marr’s product range comprises eight models, ranging from the smallest to the largest luffing jib cranes. In increasing order of maximum lifting capacities, the models are as follows: the M40R (3t), M60R (11t), M600 (50t), M630 (50t), M860 (96t), M1280D (100t), M1680D (200t), and M2480D (330t). The company’s fleet size is 70 cranes including 12 x M2480D models, among which two units are currently installed in Turkey, and the remaining are involved in projects in the UK, Middle East and Australia.
.jpg?SZd48Kmm)
“We specialize in the lifting range of 40 to 300 tonnes, which fits in well between the requirements for general construction and lifting of oversized objects. From time to time, our cranes work alongside larger ring cranes for ultra-heavy-lifting jobs,” says Simon.
It’s apparent that Marr’s fleet consists of luffing jib cranes, exclusively. According to Simon, this has more to do with customer demand than personal preference.
“The development and selection of our cranes are driven by project requirements. We find luffing jib cranes exceptionally reliable because of their high lifting capacities and speeds, ability to work under high wind speeds, and minimal downtime. If our customers demanded other types for cranes for such lifts, we’d not hesitate to invest in them. For now, luffing jib cranes are sufficient to meet all our customer demands,” he says.
Simon points out that the feasibility of hiring heavy lift luffing cranes become evident as the benefit-cost ratio increases on large-scale projects.
“High-rise construction sites in big cities usually won’t be able to accommodate large crawler cranes. Hiring smaller tower cranes would require an unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming methodology, which would cause delays and added costs. Our heavy lift luffing cranes enable contractors to adopt a methodology to modularize their lifting jobs in a manner that suits their requirements and deadlines, and hence reduce their operating costs,” he says.
.jpg?FmR6kAD9)
Marr Contracting handles its Middle East operations from its regional office in Bahrain. With a strong customer base in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the company is gearing up for expansion in Europe and the US.
With expansion of markets, Marr’s global inventory of cranes is expected to move from one project to another, constantly. On average, it takes us about five days to assemble and commission a crane on a jobsite.
All Marr’s cranes are installed with the Robway Elog remote data logging and monitoring system. Standard features of the Elog include equipment tracking (GPS); engine monitoring; service Intervals and scheduling; lift configurations; equipment utilization; equipment reports and graphs; and geo-fencing.
“We’ve a proprietary system that is integrated with Elog. All our cranes are fitted with remote monitoring systems which enable us to monitor and manage then in real time wherever they are in the world. We are able to monitor in real time the lifting capacities, wind speeds and direction, engine temperature, hydraulic system parameters, and operator behaviour, which helps our safety and maintenance departments to diagnose faults and errors and prevent downtime. We install anti-collision and zoning systems depending on local regulations,” says Simon.
According to Simon, there is a market opportunity for even bigger luffing jib cranes, beyond the current 300-tonne capacity.
“I suppose we could look at from the perspective of ‘build it and they will come’. We have a new crane concept that could lift 1000 tonnes, theoretically. In practice, it would easily achieve double the capacity of the M2480D. We estimate a 4-year development process for testing new materials and designs before bringing it to market,” says Simon.
1915 Çanakkale Bridge, Turkey
.jpg?6mbQMFiC)
The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, which is under construction, will be the world’s longest span suspension bridge with a total bridge length of 4,608 metres, a central span of 2,023 metres and a total bridge tower height of 318 metres. The bridge will connect the towns of Gelibolu (Gallipoli) on the European side of Turkey with Lapseki on the Asian side, providing a new heavy transit alternative to the Istanbul Strait passage.
In November 2019, after being fully assembled at a dry dock, two of Marr’s M2480D HLL cranes were lifted as complete units, each weighing 600 tonnes, by a floating crane and transported a kilometre to the bridge tower caisson in the middle of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Strait), where they were successfully installed in a one day operation.
.JPG?f4KSK0AY)
The craneage methodology involved using the M2480D HLL crane’s capacity to lift heavier modularised components instead of the more traditional approach of lifting smaller components one-by-one and then welding on-site.
Through fewer lifts of larger pieces, the craneage solution has reduced the construction schedule, with less site-based activities and a higher level of on-site safety. In June 2020, the M2480D cranes, each, lifted a 155-tonne piece of the upper cross beam (UCB) to its position 318 metres above sea level, at the Asian and European sides of the Çanakkale Strait.
ICD Brookfield Place dubai, UAE
The 283-metre-high ICD Brookfield Place development had an A-frame made of five steel nodes each weighing 85 tonnes. The original plan was to use smaller cranes in six locations, which would have to be moved around the site.
An M2480D HLL crane set up in two locations solved that problem and allowed the client to pre-fabricate larger sections of structural steel off-site, and then transport and install them in larger heavier sections, reducing the amount of site lifting and eliminating complex connections and associated onsite welding. This resulted in a huge boost to site productivity and the ability to secure the projects program and critical path activity which was centered around the installation of the heavy steel structure which formed the lower levels of the building.
An M860D crane was used to support the installation and relocation of the M2480D HLL. It was also critical to supporting the install of the steel structure not only at the lower levels of the building but all the way to the top of the building. A simple and highly efficient internal climbing system was introduced into the project which allowed the M860D to be climbed in the core in a matter of hours as the building structure progressed.
