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For the next 18 months, five cranes on rent from
Essex Crane Rental Corp. will assist with structural
steel construction and duct work installation at a power
station in Kentucky.
SITE REPORT
LIFTING
S
ometimes, rigging a crane for
a job can be as complicated
as the lifting assignment it
will eventually perform. Such was the
case recently when Essex Crane Rental
Corp. dispatched five cranes and an
assembly crew to a coal-fired power
station in Kentucky undergoing a $772
million retrofit/expansion to upgrade air
emissions control systems.
The scope of the crane work is structural
steel construction and duct work
installation, according to Bill Erwin, Essex
Crane vice president of operations.
Cranes from the Essex fleet include a
Manitowoc 888 with Ringer and luffing
attachment, a Manitowoc 16000 with
luffing attachment, a Liebherr LR1300
with fixed jib, a Manitowoc 999 with
an upper boom point and a Liebherr
LR1100 with an upper boom point.
Additional assist equipment on the
job includes an 80-ton capacity rough
terrain crane, a 120-foot manlift, a heavy
duty forklift and a Hyd truck crane
equipped with a man basket.
The Model 888 Ringer’s 45-foot base
and strong capacity chart made it an
ideal choice for the confined courtyard
where the crane needed to be placed.
The difficulty came with how to
assemble the Model 888 when the only
access points to the courtyard was a
small opening or lifting over the top
of the existing structure. Essex Crane
committed to its customer, KBR,
to perform the assembly safely and
efficiently.
The first task in the process was to
assemble the LR1100. Its job was to
act as the assist crane to assemble the
LR1300, then move into the courtyard to
assist in the assembly of the 888 Ringer
and the 225-foot main boom.
Utilizing the LR1100, the LR1300 was
assembled with 243 feet of main boom and
upper boom point.
Tight courtyard
With the two Liebherr units assembled,
the LR1100 was moved into the courtyard
to assist with the assembly of the 888 base
unit, the 45-foot ring attachment and the
225-foot main boom.
With the limited room in the courtyard,
the Model 888 Ringer attachment was
precisely located by KBR Engineering to
allow the assembly of the 225-foot main
boom, load block and then the main strut
for the luffing jib.
The job for the LR1300 was to receive
the 84 incoming truck loads and hoist
each load over the existing structures
and into the courtyard. The exceptional
capacity of the long boom LR1300 allowed
the Essex rigging crew to assemble the
Ringer without having to rehandle the
Rigging up
The Manitowoc 888 with Ringer and
luffing attachment lifts 190,000-
pound ductwork from outside of the
courtyard, swings over an existing
structure and sets it into place.
Essex Crane’s Liebherr LR1100 fits
through a tight space moving in and out
of a courtyard during the assembly of a
Manitowoc Model 888 with Ringer.
