08.09.2008

New Kobelco to Q

Q-Plant Hire of Manchester, has taken delivery of the first 110 tonne Kobelco CKE1100 crawler crane in the UK.

The new crane went straight to work on stabilisation and foundation work of a river diversion by the Steel Foundations division of Volker-Stevin, for contractor Fitzpatrick on a £15 million warehouse development for Coltham Citadel at the Citadel Junction in Bilston, Staffordshire.
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The new Kobelco CKE1100 at work in Bilston, Staffordshire

The job involves the installation of some 6,000 square metres of eight metre to 15 metre long sheet-steel piles to divert Darlaston Brook which runs along the edge of the new site and adjacent to the main A463 Black Country Route. The project includes stabilisation of the retained embankment, and foundations for a new access road bridge.


The CKE1100 was announced at Bauma last year, then shown publicly for the first time at SMOPyC (Zaragoza) in April this year. It has been designed to fill a gap in Kobelco’s range between its 90 and 135 tonne models and is configured specially to provide a high degree of flexibility in transportation and easy set up, combined with strong lift duties.

A major feature is the extendable crawler track system which hydraulically extend or retract the tracks from the 3.5 metre wide fully-retracted transport position, to the fully-extended overall working width of 5.3 metres.
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The new Kobelco offers low ground bearing pressures

The crane can also be transported on the road with the minimum of dismantling, it can be reduced to under 70 tonnes by removing just the boom and two counterweight sections

The main lattice boom extends from 15.2 to 70.1 metres, with a range of fixed off-set jib extensions, up to a maximum combination of 61 metres main boom plus 21.3 metre jib, giving a maximum hook height of 72 metres and with a working radius of 55 metres.

Overall weight, fully rigged, is approximately 99 tonnes, with giving a ground bearing pressure of just 92.9 kPa (less than 1 kg/sq.cm), due to its long wide footprint on the 900mm wide tracks. The main counterweight of 34 tonnes is made up of sections weighing no more than 10 tonnes, and can be self-installed.

This unit joins five other Kobelco cranes in Q-Plant Hire’s 25-strong crawler crane fleet.

Managing director Anthony Quinn said, “We purchased our first Kobelco more than six years ago, and now all of our cranes are modern, hydraulically-operated units. We have been impressed with them in every way. They are not only good value for money, with their robust construction and long life, but they have good lifting duties and excellent manoeuvrability.”

“They are designed for maximum convenience, with features which are extremely important for plant hirers: their easy transportability and self-erecting capability, obviating the need for a support crane.”

“There is a continuing healthy demand for crawler cranes in the UK, especially for heavy infrastructure projects. Many main contractors have reduced their own plant fleets in recent years, which has further boosted the demand, at a time when the benefits and cost-effectiveness of crawler cranes have been ‘rediscovered’.”