ASSOCIATION NEWS
Make way for the big crane The increasing size of cranes is changing the operating environment completely. Pierre Bouwer of Aqua Load Testing says while these large pieces of equipment are not as common an occurrence as yet on local shores, LMIs should start preparing for the future. The mobile crane industry is fast evolving. “Cranes are getting bigger and bigger with abilities to lift weights to heights we have never seen before,” says Bouwer. Speaking at the annual LEEASA/ Lifting Africa conference he told delegates there were some really big cranes going up.
“When we talk of these very big cranes, we are dealing with lattice boom cranes as their ability to lift is so much greater. As LMIs we need to take the increasing crane sizes into consideration.”
“It is unbelievable to what extent they are going,” says Bouwer. “Having been an LMI for a number of years, I can confidently say it is not easy doing load tests on cranes with these huge proportions.”
With loads getting bigger and heavier and having to go higher than ever before, the crane industry is increasingly designing equipment to meet this very demand.
Large mobile cranes are becoming more popular around the world and also in South Africa, there is a move towards using larger cranes. Referring to a 4000-ton barge crane with a lifting capacity of 14 000 tons at a 50-meter radius, Bouwer says developments were happening so fast these days, that even something of this size was no longer considered to be the biggest. “As an industry, we, therefore, have to start gearing ourselves up to deal with the sizes of these cranes. The question that we need to ask is can we do the test if we are suddenly asked to do a load test on a huge crane like that.” According to Bouwer before one can even start to quote on a job involving these massive cranes, LMIs will have to first study the full load charts. “The big equipment is changing our operating environment and we need to be prepared to deal with this change. LMIs entering the industry are going to have to be on the top of their game and be very sharp.”
10
Lifting Africa - Nov/Dec 2019