The East Coast operations for Tutt Bryant Heavy Lift & Shift (TBHL&S) recently took delivery of the Sany SCC8000A 800t capacity lattice boom crawler.
It is the largest capacity crane on the East Coast. Scott De La Rue Projects & Heavy Lifting Manager East Coast provides background information to the new Sany 800t capacity crawler and what TBHL&S has been doing with the crane since its arrival.
As industry demands the lifting of larger elements, larger modules, and extended heights, the requirements on crane capacities have increased significantly. TBHL&S saw a gap in the market for large capacity cranes on the East Coast. This is the main reason why we examined the capabilities of the 800t Sany and we decided it was the crane for our operations,” he said.
The SCC8000A features 99 meters of main boom in standard crane, 111 meters of main boom with superlift attached, 123 meters of mixed (heavy and light) main boom in standard crane, 147 meters of mixed main boom and full superlift. The crane also comes with 168 meters of power boom which includes 3.5 metre sections which are fitted into the boom and it features a super power boom. This is made up of two booms side by side for a certain portion of the main boom. TBHL&S has also purchased the crane with a short fixed – wind jib which can be used to install wind turbines over 100t at a hook height of 175m. It has a full luffing fly of 96 meters as well which can lift up to 68t at 194m hook height.
“We bought every option for the crane. We have the Superlift and the power boom which provides an increase to the torsional strength of the boom at increased heights, it also features the wind turbine short fly and the large luffing fly. This crane has greater capacities than anything else on the East Coast market right now,” said De La Rue.
“The Sany is perfect for the heavy work and lifts in large infrastructure projects. It is ideal for large and heavy bridge builds or removals such as the one we completed recently. The Sany SCC8000A is also very suitable for the work coming on the next generation of wind turbines, no other crane in the East Coast market has the capabilities for heavy lifting at large radius or extreme heights,” he said.
“With 800t capacity it is well suited for heavy industry and we are working on quotes for customers operating refineries, mine sites as well as oil and gas facilities. I’ve mentioned its relevance to the infrastructure space and we’ve also been quoting on marine work as well,” he said.
De La Rue goes on to explain how busy the Sany SCC8000A and provides details regarding the projects it has worked on.
“We recently removed an old pedestrian bridge which had spanned the rail line at Auchenflower in Brisbane. The lift involved the removal of the 221t pedestrian bridge. The load was lifted at 30.5m radius which the SCC8000A performed with ease. We had to lift the bridge with a 30 per cent safety factor which meant we had to be good for over 270t capacity which we were able to manage easily, using 300t of the available 390t of superlift counterweight, the bridge lifted at 72% capacity of chart with the superlift tray at the minimum radius of 16m.
“Countless hours of planning and engineering went into this project. The extremely restrictive build site on top of a hill with live rail on one side, overhead powerlines on the other side, a car park not long enough to assemble the boom, large trees at each end presented TBHL&S with many challenges, many said it couldn’t be done but we were able to overcome these problems safely and efficiently. As a result of the planning the lift was executed perfectly,” he said.
Queensland Rail is upgrading Auchenflower station to improve accessibility and make it easier and safer for customers to use. The works are part of the Queensland Rail Station Accessibility Upgrade Program, a $500 million plus Queensland Government initiative designed to upgrade stations across the South East Queensland network, to make them accessible for all customers.
“The bridge was approximately 70 years old and due to our extensive planning, we were able to remove it during a rail possession on a weekend at the end of March. As I’ve said, the most difficult part of the project was the site which complicated the build of the crane to get it ready for the lift,” said De La Rue.
The rigging for the lift was also complex. A 300t capacity spreader bar featured at the top with two 170t spreaders bars below. Four sync hoist inline hydraulic jacks were also utilized by TBHL&S to allow for very specific sling lengths required to compensate for an offset center of gravity and also to slightly rotate the bridge mid-air to land it evenly onto sloping ground.
De La Rue provides more detail about the planning that went into the and how it was a collaborative effort by the TBHL&S team to be able to complete the lift safely.
“The first stage involved a feasibility study to ensure we would be able to get the crane into the right position. I worked with a couple of my team members on the various elements of the study. As far as the engineering plans for the lift were concerned, our engineering team based in TBHL&S Western Australia worked on this part of the project.
“The process involved three different engineers who were tasked with the various elements of the project. Obviously, we have a significant advantage on being able to draw on the greater capabilities of the TBHL&S organisation when it comes to projects like this,’ he said.
De La Rue and his team were impressed with the performance of the Sany SCC8000A.
“In my opinion, this crane is a quantum leap for Sany. The crane operates beautifully and everything about the crane is finished off really nicely. I would say the gap between the brands in this class from Europe, has significantly narrowed. The quality of this crane is there for all to see.
“Our operator was really impressed with the performance and said it was as good as any crane he had operated and he is a very experienced operator with years of heavy lift experience. Even the inspector who conducted the CraneSafe said it was a big step forward for a Chinese product and he should know,” he said.
“TBHL&S has been involved with the Sany product for some time and we have been impressed with the approach of the Sany factory. They have worked closely with our teams, listened to our feedback and suggestions when it comes to improvements to the machines, and they have worked hard to engineer our suggestions into the more recent models.
“We can see Sany is in this for the long haul, and they recognise large capacity cranes like the SCC8000A provide the perfect platform to showcase their rapidly improving technical prowess and quality. An organisation like ours needs to be confident the crane will withstand the rigours of the work we perform. And they need to perform over an extended period of time ensuring they are well utilised assets providing a significant return on investment. Sany is engineering longevity into the cranes we are seeing today,” said De La Rue.
The mobilisation of the crane to the Auchenflower project, was a challenge in itself as 52 trailers were required. These included one eight row platform, two 100t floats and three 50t floats and the rest were oversized flat tops. The crane goes together quite nicely but there was a fair amount of slave cranage needed with 300t and 130t capacity all terrains required for a couple of days to build the crane, however this was largely due to the difficult build site, with an open and flat space we could comfortably build this with one of our SANY SCC1300TB telescopic boom crawlers he said.
De La Rue can see the SCC8000A is going to be a well utilised asset for TBHL&S.
“We’ve been working on the front end engineering for a number of projects which are in the pipeline. The crane will be on Sydney & Brisbane projects for the foreseeable future.
“TBHL&S now has the largest capacity crane permanently based on the East Coast and this provides us with a leading edge on major projects. Combined with our engineering and turnkey project capabilities, TBHL&S stands alone in our comprehensive ability to deliver competitive and efficient packages for our clients,” he said.