25.04.2014

3,000 tonner in action

We have photos of the 3,000+ tonne Liebherr LR 13000 crawler crane, owned by Mammoet, which has started two weeks of lifting in northern Germany.

The crane, which made its debut on a job in the USA, is being used to install four platform legs on Van Oord’s newest wind turbine installation vessel, the Aeolus.
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The 900 tonne leg is lifted from the horizontal to vertical and then slewed over the vessel

The crane was delivered to the Lloyd Werft yard in Bremerhaven, and erected over 12 days, complete with its heavy duty ‘P’- power boom. The first of the four 87 metre long steel platform legs, each weighing 920 tonnes, has already been lifted into the working position on the 139 metre long and 38 metre wide vessel. The crane was rigged with full PDB configuration providing a hook height of 132 metres, more than enough to lift the legs well clear of their sockets.

Mammoet designed, fabricated and delivered tailor-made top lifting tools and a tailing frame for the job, in order to ensure that the legs - which have no lifting points - can be lifted securely.
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The 87 metre long legs were lifted well clear of the deck

In addition to the platform legs, Mammoet will also install four spudcans, by placing the partly rigged spudcans on the seabed, moving the Aeolus over it and then connecting the spudcan with the leg with the use of cranes and divers.

The job started on Tuesday and will continue round the clock for the next two weeks. The Aeolus is scheduled to go into operation in July of this year.