30.04.2010

Record-breaking lift for ALE

Global heavy transport and lifting company ALE has successfully completed a 1,457.1 tonne inaugural lift with its new Terex Demag CC8800-1. The lift - which took place in Sines, Portugal – is said to be the heaviest lifted with a CC8800-1 crane and is believed to be the heaviest lift ever in the field by a single Terex Demag crane. The lift was completed at a radius of 13.1 metres using a 60 metre boom, 640 tonnes of counterweight. The CC8800-1 - which has a maximum load moment of 24,002 metre tonnes and superlift radii of 19-30 metres - was part of ALE's €11 million investment earlier this year and was sent directly to Portugal after completing testing.
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ALE successfully completed the 1,457.1 tonne inaugural lift with its new Terex Demag CC8800-1 in Sines, Portugal. The company claims it is the heaviest piece lifted with a CC8800-1 crane, and the heaviest lift ever in the field with a Terex Demag crane.

The record-breaking lift was part of the work in transporting two reactors from Italy to the Galp Energia refinery in Sines, Portugal. The project involved a combination of sea transport, road transport and heavy crane lifting.

The reactors were transported from Italy to Portugal using an 1,800 tonne capacity self-geared vessel. After arriving in Sines, they were offloaded and temporarily stored at the port before being loaded onto 68 axle lines of self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) and transferred seven km to the refinery across a very challenging route. Due to route height restrictions, the reactors had to be transported off the public highway and over roads through a mine area with 10 percent inclines.
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Tailing was completed using a gantry especially designed by ALE.

“When travelling through the mine we had to accommodate a height difference of over 100 metres across 2.5 kilometres of road,” explained Veronica Arrayago, ALE project manager. “The SPMTs provided the manoeuvrability needed to traverse such a steep incline with such a heavy load.”

Once at the refinery, the reactors were erected using the CC8800-1. Tailing was completed using a gantry especially designed by ALE.

“This 1,457.1 tonne lift, which required a special crane hook, was essentially the heaviest lift possible using the CC8800-1 or, indeed, any single boom crawler crane – exactly the sort of job in which ALE specialises and excels,” said Arrayago.

The new reactors are part of a conversion project at Galp Energia’s Sines refinery.
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The record-breaking lift was part of the work in transporting two reactors from Italy to the Galp Energia refinery in Sines, Portugal.