Next milestone in Ehingen: the 50,000th Liebherr mobile crane goes to BKL

Robert Popp, Managing Director of Technology at BKL, and Tizian Ochmann, Head of the BKL Frankfurt site, travelled to the Liebherr manufacturing plant in Ehingen to take delivery of the anniversary crane. Popp says: "We have a long-standing good partnership with Liebherr. We are therefore delighted to be able to take delivery of this special crane. At the same time, we congratulate Liebherr on this further major milestone in its impressive company history."

90-metre telescopic boom

The new LTM 1300-6.4 will replace an LTM 1300-6.2 at BKL Frankfurt. Ochmann explains: "With its 90-metre telescopic boom, the new 300-tonne crane perfectly rounds off our portfolio in Frankfurt. The 6-axle crane is particularly well suited for inner-city areas. With its long boom, it can, for example, assemble construction cranes without a main boom extension. That will be one of its main tasks."

Liebherr launched the LTM 1300-6.4 on the market in spring 2024. The main differences to its predecessor, the LTM 1300-6.3, are the new cab design and the new LICCON3 control system. "We also have several LTM 1300-6.3 cranes in use in Frankfurt and at other BKL locations. As we have had good experiences with these mobile cranes, we also opted for the successor model. In addition to the more modern control system, the LTM 1300-6.4 offers new driver assistance systems. This means that the crane fits in very well with BKL's fundamental orientation: technical progress with a modern and reliable crane fleet."

BKL Frankfurt already operates LICCON3 cranes such as the LTM 1100-5.3 and the LTM 1110-5.2 in its fleet. In total, numerous mobile cranes are permanently stationed there, including several modern Liebherr mobile construction cranes that can also be operated with construction site power. The latest addition to the fleet is the brand new MK 120-5.1E.

Successful crane history

Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH was founded in 1969 as a subsidiary of the then sole proprietorship Hans Liebherr. Production of mobile cranes and ship cranes began in the same year. The first crawler cranes were delivered in 1978. These already offered lifting capacities of over 500 tonnes. The increasing capacity requirements for the ever-expanding mobile crane range were the deciding factor in the decision to concentrate entirely on mobile cranes in Ehingen from 1980 onwards and to transfer the production of ship, offshore and container cranes to Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH.

By the mid-1980s, the truck crane product range had been converted to the new LTM all-terrain crane series. This technically completely new generation of cranes for combined road and off-road use attracted a great deal of attention from customers at home and abroad and formed the basis for Liebherr's market leadership in mobile cranes. Today, Liebherr builds around 2,000 mobile cranes per year at its Ehingen site.