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Ulferts & wittrock’s new Terex® superlift 3800 crawler crane proves itself in trio lift of stör river bridge
Itzehoe, September, 2013. This past August was an important milestone for the region’s infrastructure: Crane service providers Ulferts & Wittrock, Wagenborg Nedlift, and Sarens worked together to lift a 120-meter-long tied-arch bridge onto 20-meter-tall piers, closing a gap in the expansion project for the A23 motorway between Hamburg and Heide. In order to perform this challenging lift over the river Stör, the companies relied on a trio of Terex® crawler cranes: Wagenborg with its CC 2500-1; Sarens with its CC 6800; and Ulferts & Wittrock with its new Superlift 3800, which was on its first assignment for the company.
Despite the complexity involved in performing a lift with three cranes, Ulferts & Wittrock focused on one main criterion when deciding on which crane to use for the project: “This new crane allowed us to eliminate the costly and time-consuming process of having to build an auxiliary structure,” explains Albert Schrör. Before the cranes started their work, however, the 1,200-tonne bridge first had to be positioned so that it would be ready to be lifted - a process that also required considerable effort. During the first step, two modular heavy haulage vehicles moved the steel giant to the designated place on the river bank, where a pontoon waited. The vehicle in the front then drove onto the pontoon together with the bridge, after which the rear vehicle pushed the pontoon, together with its load, to the other side of the river, where yet another one of the heavy haulers was ready to “receive” it.
Once the bridge was placed exactly where it needed to be and was aligned parallel to the piers, the teams were able to sling the load. On one side of the river, the Sarens team setup their CC 6800 crane with a stationary SSL 50 m configuration, which picked up 600 tonnes of the bridge’s weight. On the opposite bank, Wagenborg’s team setup their CC 2500-1 crane with an SSL 42 configuration and equally split and picked up the remaining 600 tonnes with Ulferts & Wittrock’s new Superlift 3800. The Superlift 3800 crane was set up with an SSL 42 m configuration featuring a 42-meter main boom and a superlift tray. The counterweight was 100 tonnes on the vario-superlift tray and 150 tonnes on the superstructure. In addition, the crane was equipped with a vario-hook with ten-part reeving for this specific lift. “We had very high expectations when it came to the new Terex Superlift 3800’s first assignment, and were really looking forward to seeing how the ‘new kid in town’ would fare in its debut,” reports Ulferts & Wittrock crane operator Albert Schrör.
The company was not let down in the least bit. In fact, the new crane, designed for cost-effective transport, literally paid for itself as it only needed 20 trucks to bring all of the crane’s components to the jobsite. For example, the superstructure, with the assembled carbody, fit on a single transport vehicle. This not only eliminated the need for an additional truck, but also helped the team save time during setup. In addition, the platforms and handrails placed all around proved to be very advantageous for the assembly technicians, who did not have to awkwardly walk on the crane’s tracks during setup. The tracks, in turn, delivered outstanding handling performance at the work site thanks to their especially wide design, which provide reduced ground pressure.
Lift under adverse weather conditions
The challenge when carrying out this type of lift is twofold: The load has to be perfectly balanced, and all the cranes need to be flawlessly synchronized. This is where the Terex IC-1 crane control system, featured on all three cranes, prove to be indispensable. “The IC-1 control system made sure we were able to keep tabs on the way the weight was distributed at all times,” pointed out Albert Schrör, who was also quick to mention that the Superlift 3800 crane definitely proved its worth during its first assignment: “The new Superlift 3800 not only has unbelievably precise controls, but also responds perfectly to every input,” he reports.
This enabled him, as well as his fellow operators in the other Terex cranes, to lift the bridge with the necessary precision to the required height of 20 meters and place it on the concrete piers with a single, smooth slewing movement. And even though rain kept trying to put a damper on their plans throughout the entire lift, the operators were able to do everything as planned. Albert Schrör in particular benefited from the newly designed Superlift 3800 crane cab, which provided him with an excellent view thanks to its large windows. After about 5 hours, the job was completed as scheduled and another gap in the expansion project for the A23 autobahn had been closed.
About The Terex® Superlift 3800 crawler crane
The 650 tonne (716 US t) Terex® Superlift 3800 lattice boom crawler crane features a maximum load moment of 8.426 meter tonnes and is designed to provide its owners excellent return on investment. The crane is designed for worldwide transportation, to reduce erection times, and to lessen the need for additional equipment. A wide array of safety features, including the award winning Terex fall protection system, come standard. The Superlift 3800 can be delivered with an integrated wind kit in a universal main boom system: the crane is capable to erect wind turbines of 117 meters (384 ft) without using the available superlift boom configuration. In this configuration, LH 114 m + 12 m LF, the main boom can be erected without employing an assist crane. The Superlift 3800 is the first crawler crane to feature the new Terex cabin design. Providing operators with an excellent working environment, it was developed with extensive feedback gathered from customer workshops, leading industrial stylists and experts in ergonomics. The Superlift 3800 conforms to both, the European norm EN 13000 and the US standard ASME B30.5. It can lift a maximum load of 650 tonnes (716 US t) at a radius of 5 to 12 meters (16 to 39 ft).
The Ulferts & Wittrock Business Group
The Ulferts & Wittrock Group was founded in 1989 by Hermann Ulferts and Klaus Wittrock under the name of Ulferts & Wittrock GmbH & Co in Oldenburg. The company’s goal was to provide professional crane services in the area in and around Oldenburg. The city of Oldenburg is located right between the sites of the companies that already existed at the time: Ulferts GmbH in Neermoor and Mennen & Wittrock GmbH / Hermann Titschkus KG (GmbH & Co.) in Bremen, of which both founders held shares.
This new company combined the know-how and experience of both entrepreneurs, who today can look back on over 40 years of business experience. In addition, the company’s business areas were expanded to include, for example, the acquisition of large cranes for erecting wind turbines, as well as working platform, telescopic handler, forklift, and mini crane rentals. Later, the company added branches in Brake and Wilhelmshaven to its Oldenburg headquarters.
The business group has expanded continuously ever since through a combination of new branches and acquisitions that cover Hamburg, Hollenstedt, Lübeck, Kiel, Flensburg, and Schwerin. Together with its parent companies, the entire business group today operates more than 15 locations and has its entire range of products and services at the disposal of its customers. In addition, its membership in SystemLift AG — an association of regional service providers — enables it to offer its services throughout all of Germany as well.
Today, the company’s range of services includes mobile crane and heavy haulage logistics; heavy assembly services; plant relocations; and working platform, telescopic handler, forklift, and mini crane rentals.
The Ulferts & Wittrock Group has over 150 mobile and crawler cranes with lifting capacities of up to 650 t, more than 80 transport vehicles with payloads of up to 250 t, approx. 700 working platforms with working heights of up to 53 m, and 60 telescopic handlers available in all of Germany. In addition, it employs over 300 people who are actively engaged in meeting its customers’ needs.
A highly qualified and motivated staff, together with state-of-the-art machinery, ensures that the business group offers an optimal range of services. In addition, the Ulferts & Wittrock Group is certified according to Safety Certificate Contractors (SCC) standards, which ensure that important safety requirements are met.
For much more information, please visit:
www.ulferts-wittrock.de / www.ulferts.de / www.wittrock-gruppe.de
About Terex
Terex Corporation is a diversified global manufacturer of a broad range of equipment that is focused on delivering reliable, customer-driven solutions for many applications, including the construction, infrastructure, quarrying, mining, shipping, transportation, refining, energy, utility and manufacturing industries. Terex reports in five business segments: Aerial Work Platforms; Construction; Cranes; Material Handling & Port Solutions; and Materials Processing. Terex offers financial products and services to assist in the acquisition of equipment through Terex Financial Services. More information can be found at www.terex.com.
