Wasel returns damaged container bridge to operation with Liebherr mobile and crawler cranes

When hurricane-strength winds struck over the State of North Rhine-Westphalia during Whitsuntide 2014, the storm managed to push a container bridge with extreme force against its buffers. This resulted in the portal crane and its rollers partly jumping out of its rails. Two of the supports then bent and shipping on the Rhine had to be stopped temporarily as a result of the danger that the whole structure would collapse. After being dismantled and repaired over a period of eight months, the colossal structure is now ready for action again.

Wasel based in Bergheim took charge of the reinstallation of the 109-metre long and 21-metre wide container crane using two Liebherr crawler cranes and three LTM mobile cranes. The two LR 1600/2 crawler cranes were positioned on the actual bank of the Rhine in a six-metre deep preflooder basin. Meanwhile on land an LTM 1750-9.1 and an LTM 1500-8.1 took charge of the hoisting work whilst an LTM 1220-5.2 was used for erection purposes.

Initially the projecting portal crane track was manoeuvred between the cranes using two SPMT self-propelling vehicles and auxiliary rail systems. The four Liebherr cranes then raised the 560-tonne structure in a four-way hoist and held the imposing load at a height of around 25 metres. During this process the installation teams installed the new supports and tracks to the portal crane with the 220-tonner. Finally the 35-metre high container bridge was reset on its tracks.

This job was demanding from both a logistics and technical point of view and was brought to a successful conclusion by the Wasel team in two days. The family run company based in Bergheim has a workforce of around 400 people, making it one of the largest service providers for crane and heavy load logistics. Around 80 percent of its impressive crane fleet are Liebherr machines. A new LTM 1300-6.2 has been added to the fleet in the last few weeks. In addition to this, another LTM 1750-9.1 is waiting to be collected from the Ehingen plant. This powerful nine-axle machine will be the second machine of this type which the company has in its fleet. Several new Liebherr mobile cranes are also due to be delivered to Wasel during 2015, including a new LTM 1160-5.2 in the middle of the year.