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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
OCTOBER 2016
8
Johnson Crane Hire recently proved its
lifting prowess on a challenging heavy lift
project for a large marine diamond miner
in Cape Town, South Africa. As part of
routine quarterly maintenance, dredging
vessels are brought into the Cape Town
harbour where the necessary servicing and
repair work is undertaken in the dry dock.
In this particular instance, Johnson Crane
Hire was called upon to remove three large
components from the vessel, being the
vessel’s 52 t gimbal head, the 42 t derrick
and the 20 t crown.
Removal of these large components facili-
tated important repairs to both these critical
items and the dredging vessel. A set number
of days had been allocated to the mainte-
nance programme and this meant that all
contractors needed to adhere to the work
schedule. Careful planning played an import-
ant role in ensuring the successful comple-
tion of the lifts, says Richard Simmons, heavy
lift hydraulic cranes manager at Johnson
Crane Hire.
Close interface between the crane special-
ist and the mining house’s own maintenance
teams was critical. “The mining house had
allocated exactly 35 days to the maintenance
programme and we therefore had to ensure
that we were able to meet their lifting dead-
lines,” he says. Among the challenges that
Johnson Crane Hire had to contend with
on this specialised lift was the high wind
speeds that occur in the area, which at times
can reach 108 km per hour. This caused lift-
ing operations to be stopped during such pe-
riods. Conditions were monitored and close
communication between the operator and
the team on the ground was essential as
the lifts could only be done when the wind
was below 38 km per hour. Another complex-
ity was the extremely congested working
environment on the quay side, where there
was just enough space in the laydown area
to place equipment and lower the boom and
luffing section of the crane. Johnson Crane
Hire used its 750 t mobile crane to undertake
all three lifts. The crane was equipped with
204 t of counterweight and a 31,5 m luffing
jib. The first component to be lifted was the
gimbal head as this was on the critical path
of the project.
“With a 35 m lifting radius, the gimbal
was the most complicated component to
lift, and required accurate movements to
extract it from the vessel in the dry dock
and raise it safely out of the ship,” says
Simmons. The crane’s sophisticated guide
system helped to accurately control the
deflections on the boom during all the lifts.
This was particularly important during the
lifting of the gimbal head. While state-of-
the-art equipment is essential in ensuring
successful lifts, Simmons is quick to point
out that the company has a large pool of
skilled operators. “Our operators have
extensive heavy lift experience, and undergo
regular training both in-house and at crane
OEMs.” This is exactly what continues to
give Johnson Crane Hire its competitive
edge in the heavy lifting market.
b
Durban recently experienced heavy rain-
falls and floods which left debris washed
down from the rivers along the coastlines.
With the huge task of cleaning up rest-
ing on Parks & Beaches and the Durban
Municipality, Goscor Group’s Bobcat divi-
sion offered to be involved in restoring the
coastlines.
“We approached Parks & Beaches man-
ager, Bruce Blake, and Durban Municipali-
ty’s technical engineering manager, Godfrey
Vella, to offer our assistance,” says Bobcat’s
Brian Rachman.
“Using the T870 Bobcat fitted with a
skeleton bucket, we managed to push and
stockpile huge amounts of litter over a three-
day period from the Blue Lagoon river mouth.
This machinery enabled us to lift most of the
heavy debris, leaving the beach sand behind.
For collecting the finer material, we used the
new beach cleaner attachment.”
“When dealing with the outcome of
natural disasters, particularly along our
coastlines, every type of assistance is most
welcome. It is indeed a mammoth task to get
our beaches and parks to the state they were
in before being hit by heavy rains and floods.
“Companies such as Bobcat have
demonstrated their commitment to keeping
our areas clean and safe, and we commend
them for coming forward without waiting on
us to call for help. Watching the machinery
in action was an amazing sight,” says Bruce
Blake, Parks & Beaches manager.
JOHNSON CRANE HIRE MAKES LIGHT WORK OF
TOUGH HEAVY LIFT
BOBCATS TO THE RESCUE
MATERIALS HANDLING
Johnson
Crane Hire
used its 750 t
mobile crane
to undertake
all three lifts.
Bobcat machines were recently used to
lift most of the heavy debris at the Durban
coastline.
Skyjack’s recent partnership with college
students has resulted in potential concepts
for the company’s future scissors and
boom designs. Among the ideas students
proposed were concepts for terrain
detection and new camera systems.
“The students’ designs were an impres-
sive mix of innovation and practicality,” says
Malcolm Early, vice-president of market, Sky-
jack. “They independently visited customers
and job sites, then used those inputs to come
up with innovative ideas ranging from terrain
detection to camera systems.”
Skyjack partnered with fourth-year industri-
al design students from the Bachelor in Indus-
trial Design program offered by Humber Col-
lege’s School of Applied Technology, which is
based in Toronto, Canada. Skyjack challenged
the students to work on the aesthetic styling
of Skyjack’s DC scissors, RT scissors, articulat-
ed booms and telescopic booms.
“This styling project was awesome. When
we interacted with a lift on our own,
we saw different areas where we could
improve the machine’s ergonomics,” says
Michelle Tran, a student who participated
in the project. “One thing I learnt through
this project is that whatever we designed,
we had to take manufacturability and
keeping costs low into consideration.”
The partnership was part of an industri-
al design practices course, where faculty
members in charge, Dennis L. Kappen and
Glenn Moffatt, asked 27 students to re-
search competitive brands, visit equipment
rental companies, conduct ethnographic
research and assimilate operators and
rental companies’ feedback on the Skyjack
products.
b
Skyjack partners with university to innovate scissor, boom designs