For a challenging construction project in the Netherlands, the LTR 1150 telescopic crawler crane was the ideal construction crane thanks to its performance data in terms of load capacity, boom radius and lifting height, as well as its ability to move with heavy loads on its hook. A large residential complex was being built in the harbour of Alphen aan den Rijn, situated between the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The building, which scales seven storeys in places, will house 48 apartments on a plot of just under 800 square metres. Due to its location between existing developed areas, a narrow road and the harbour basin, there was barely any free space and the crane set-up area, especially towards the end of the project, was severely restricted. Thanks to its fantastic flexibility and the mobility afforded by its crawler carriers, the LTR 1150 was initially able to complete the building – apart from one small section – from the later inner courtyard outwards. It then completed the complex from the road side.
“The spatial conditions meant that the use of an adequately powerful top-turning tower crane was not an option here,” explains Maichel van Vliet, who controlled the Liebherr crane throughout the construction project. “Even a mobile construction crane would have not delivered enough lifting power. When it came to lifting pre-fabricated elements with unit weights of up to 13 tonnes and a boom radius of around 18 metres, the LTR 1150 was simply the ideal tool. It’s small, agile and fast. These were major benefits for this construction project.” The boom, which telescoped to 45 metres and delivers maximum length of 52 metres, was able to deliver all of the storeys of the just under 25-metre-tall new building.
“100 lifts a day easily managed”
On site, moving the crawler crane while laden was crucial for another reason: the pre-fabricated components were delivered “just in time”. The LTR 1150 had to lift them from the heavy-duty transporters and then, ideally, travel directly to the installation site. “The crane really helped us make fast progress with this. Each day, we’re able to complete an entire storey for each section of the construction,” explains Maichel van Vliet on the penultimate day on site, seated in the cab of his crawler crane. “In the morning, we position the walls, then everything goes up on the hook: from the bathrooms to the floors. And towards the evening, we place the ceiling panels on the wall elements. 100 lifts a day are no problem with this crane. Everything went smoothly. The fact that we’ll complete the building tomorrow on schedule and exactly on time is the best proof of this.”
For Maichel van Vliet, who works for the construction firm Meijmat B.V., the job in Alphen was the first he’d completed with the LTR 1150. His conclusion: “A great crane that’s easy to operate. For its power with a lifting capacity of 150 tonnes, it cuts a very sleek figure. It’s also easy to transport. Tomorrow two trucks are coming to pick me and the crane up. Then we’ll be off to the next job that we’ll be completing together.”
The new telescopic crawler crane from crane hire firm Gebri will not just be used on residential construction projects. “We’ll be hiring the LTR 1150 out for a lot of work involving precast concrete elements or for the assembly of large sand dredgers,” explains Gerhan van de Brink. He founded Gebri Handel & Verhuur B.V. with his father Henk in 2018. At the company’s premises in Barneveld, east of Utrecht, a team of four looks after a sizeable fleet of 50 crane vehicles, which are generally hired out without drivers. Among them are 15 telescopic crawler cranes, with one Liebherr LTR 1220 being the most powerful machine in this segment. The modern fleet also includes specialist cranes, mobile construction cranes and a pool of over a dozen mobile cranes from Liebherr. The construction equipment is used not just in the Netherlands and Belgium, but also on international projects, including in Germany, Spain, Chile, Senegal, Hungary and the United Kingdom.
