A total of ten Liebherr duty cycle crawler cranes and crawler cranes are currently in operation at the Suez Canal as part of a multibillion project. They assist in the construction of two road tunnels under the Suez Canal near the city of Port Said in North Egypt. They are erecting slurry walls with a total area of 520,000m². The slurry walls are situated to both the east and the west of the Suez Canal for access roads as well as shafts for subsequent tunnel excavations.
Among the machines in use are four HS 885 HD, two HS 875 HD, one HS 855 HD, one HS 845 HD and one crawler crane type LR 1160. Additionally Züblin AG is deploying a HS 8100 HD and, therefore, a duty cycle crawler crane of the newest generation. It is equipped with a hydraulic slurry wall grab from Leffer, which requires a mere 16 litres of diesel per hour. Furthermore, using the hydraulic slurry wall grab, the work can be carried out more precisely over the whole depth than with a mechanical slurry wall grab.
The construction of the tunnels is part of an Egyptian infrastructure project with immense dimensions. New tunnels are not only being built at Port Said but also further south at Ismailia. The project also includes the widening and deepening of the existing shipping lane of the canal, as well as the construction of a completely new lane with a length of approximately 35 kilometres in the northern section.