Capital Equipment News

he two Terex tower cranes spent

about twelve months in view of the

world-famous St. Pauli Landungs-

brücken Piers in Hamburg while working

under unique conditions. “Projects in urban

downtown settings are always associated

with special challenges, and that’s espe-

cially the case when it comes to a big, live-

ly city like Hamburg,” explains Proschwitz

GmbH General Manager Detlev Proschwitz.

The first challenge was the lack of space

around the areas where the two Terex tower

cranes would be erected. Just getting the

cranes from Proschwitz’s headquarters in

Trittau to the work site with 13 trucks was a

small logistical challenge despite the short

distance of 35 km – after all, cramped

downtown areas are hardly the natural hab-

itat of heavy goods vehicles. Despite this

and the limited space conditions at the ac-

tual work sites, the Proschwitz team was

able to erect the two cranes on time, with

each one taking only one day and three

assembly technicians. “We didn’t have any

more time available anyway, as we had

to keep the necessary road closures to a

minimum. That’s where the CTT cranes’

ease of erecting really came through for

us,” Proschwitz emphasizes. And it is one

of the key reasons why his company con-

sistently relies on Terex products when it

comes to tower cranes: The Proschwitz

Group’s rental fleet features a total of over

100 flat top and hammerhead tower cranes

– all Terex models. “The feature with the

transfer masts that work on both model

ranges enables us to use a variety of com-

binations and tackle all kinds of challenges

in a flexible and cost-effective manner,”

Proschwitz says. He mentions Terex's com-

petitive prices, and the fact that experience

has shown that they keep their value well,

as additional points in their favour.

The two Terex tower cranes have another

feature that make it seem as though the

units were destined to work on the project at

the Hamburg site – their variable frequency

drives, which guarantee low inrush currents,

protecting the city grid from unmanageable

voltage fluctuations. “If there was one thing

we really didn’t want to do, it was to leave

the Landungsbrücken Piers without electric-

ity,” says Detlev Proschwitz.

For the project at the St. Pauli Landungs-

brücken Piers, the Proschwitz team erect-

ed the CTT 91-5 flat top tower crane

free-standing on a C38 cruciform base,

and the CTT 161A-8 flat top tower crane on

cast-in-place anchors. With a jib length of

40 m and a hook height of 49.5 m, the CTT

161A-8 was perfectly set up to lift construc-

tion materials weighing up to 4.15 tonnes

from the jib tip. Its maximum lifting capacity

was eight tonnes. The CTT 91-5 was set up

with a jib length of 30 m and a hook height

of 40.8 m. With this setup, it was able to

pick up loads of up to 3.3 tonnes.

With these configurations, the two Terex

tower cranes performed their work smooth-

ly and reliably for a total of twelve months,

even when exposed to wind and inclement

weather. As a result, Construction Manager

Robert Friske from Köster AG, the primary

contractor on the project, was also com-

pletely satisfied with the Terex machines:

“The high-pressure deadlines normally in-

volved in this type of construction projects

mean that we can’t afford any equipment

downtimes. This means that dependable

machinery, such as these two tower cranes,

is crucial to a successful project completed

on time,” Robert Friske pointed out.

After the work was completed, the cranes

needed to be disassembled quickly, as both

the port’s anniversary celebration and the

Hamburg Marathon were just around the

corner. Due to the extremely constrained

space conditions, it was not possible to

tear down the CTT 91 crane using a mo-

bile crane. However, the fact that the tower

crane can be easily dismantled into smaller

components meant that the CTT 161 crane

was able to take care of the task and safe-

ly disassemble its 'smaller sibling.' “The

option of being able to disassemble the

slewing unit came in really handy,” explains

Proschwitz. “There’s no other machine with

that available!”

After the CTT 91 was dismantled, the CTT

161 was disassembled in six hours with the

help of a mobile crane.

TEREX

TOWER CRANES

working at the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken Piers in Hamburg

LIFTING

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

NOVEMBER 2015