Tandem lift with two Tadano AC 5.160-1 cranes

Tandem lift with two Tadano AC 5.160-1 cranes: Big job in a tight space in Ludwigshafen.

When it came to tandem-lifting an 80-tonne LNG tank for their customer Essity at the premises of concrete firm Frischbeton in Ludwigshafen, the team at Weiland Kran und Transport GmbH knew they could rely on their two Tadano 5.160-1 all terrain cranes. And these are no standard cranes. They both feature special counterweight variants that Weiland designed in partnership with Tadano.

Weiland Managing Director Sebastian Degenhardt explains what’s special about the cranes: “Each of these two cranes can go on-road with two tonnes more counterweight than standard. In other words, we can operate them within the 12-tonne axle load limit at a total weight of 60 tonnes – and still carry a whole 8.5 tonnes of counterweight, plus rear storage box and hook block. This allows us to use both our AC 5.160-1 machines as full-fledged taxi cranes. That was our goal with these 5-axle cranes, and we realized it in partnership with Tadano.”

Degenhardt’s decision to go with Tadano and the AC 5.160-1 to realize this 8.5-tonne counterweight concept was no accident. “Tadano was simply the best and most accommodating when it came to planning and implementation,” he explains. The decision was based on extensive market research. And he is more than happy with the result because, with this counterweight variant, the crane offers a level of cost-effectiveness and versatility that is virtually unbeatable. The modified AC 5.160-1 can handle many of his company’s typical lift jobs without the need for expensive additional transportation vehicles. Moreover, it makes it much easier to get permits.

Even so, the job in Ludwigshafen for Weiland’s customer Essity required the full potential of the AC 5.160-1 units. “We had to tandem lift an 80-tonne LNG tank onto a lowbed trailer,” explains Weiland crane operator Alonso Domenico. At the time of the lift, he had only recently picked up his company’s second AC 5.160-1 from Tadano in Zweibrücken. For the tandem lift, the load weight was shared equally between the two cranes, meaning that each had to lift 40 tonnes and was set up with its full amount of counterweight. In performing the lift, the two cranes took full advantage of the plus factors in their design. “The AC 5.160-1 can get by with a surprisingly small outrigger base,” explains Thomas Eisenberg, who operated the second AC 5.160-1 in the lift. “That’s a major plus in tight spaces like the one we encountered on this work site. What’s more, despite its space-saving outriggers, it still has good lifting capacity at large radii. That makes it a very, very strong contender compared with other cranes in its class.” Sebastian Degenhardt agrees: “For us, these characteristics make the AC 5.160-1 a versatile all-rounder for work sites that typically call for 5-axle machines. This compact unit basically means we’ve got the full range of crane capacities covered – everything from 100 or 110 tonnes to 130 tonnes, all the way to 160 tonnes. In other words, in our fleet, the AC 5.160-1 saves us the cost of two to three additional cranes.”

So much for the theory. How does the crane perform in practice? Alonso Domenico: “It’s absolutely outstanding. Thanks to the AC 5.160-1 unit’s extremely responsive controls, we were able to lift the 21-meter-long, 5-meter-diameter tank at a radius of about 10 meters and lower it onto the waiting flatbed truck with centimeter precision and without any uncontrolled swinging.” Sebastian Degenhardt, too, is more than happy with how the tandem lift went: “This lift was exactly the kind of scenario we had in mind when considering the AC 5.160-1 and its extensive array of capabilities.” For him, ordering these two cranes was absolutely the right decision to make.