There are only a few jobs that require more than the enormous lifting capacity of a Demag CC 8800-1 crawler crane with its standard configuration. Lifting a 100-m-long, 510-t C3 splitter tower on a construction site at the Singapore Refining Company propylene manufacturing plant was one such job. This is why crane service provider Tiong Woon configured its Demag CC 8800-1 with a boom booster, enabling the crane to carry out the demanding tandem lift together with a Demag CC 2800-1.
Firstly, the CC 8800-1 had to be set up for a test lift according to the local codes of practice. This test was carried out away from the actual work site with the support of Demag and in the presence of the ordering party.
The crane got the green light for the lift after successfully completing the test, then it was completely disassembled and taken with heavy goods vehicles to the Merlimau Road work site, where it was reassembled for the job.
Setting up the crane with its seven-part boom booster kit took the team, comprising six assembly technicians, six signal persons, and two supervisors, a total of five days – which is just a day longer than the standard configuration would have taken.
“In order to speed up the process, one part of the team took care of assembling the base crane, while the other part took care of setting up the boom booster,” said Michael Ang, Tiong Woon’s deputy CEO.
For the CC 8800-1 primary crane with the boom booster kit, Tiong Woon chose a BSFVL configuration with a main boom length of 102 m plus a fly jib of 12 m mounted at an angle of 14°. Meanwhile, the required Superlift counterweight came in at 400 t. For the Demag CC 2800-1 assist crane, the company chose an SSL configuration with a main boom length of 42 m and a Superlift counterweight of 100 t.
Once set up this way, the Demag duo was ready to lift the 100-m-long, 510-t steel pipe with a diameter of 4.84 m. The biggest challenge was to bring the massive steel structure from a horizontal position to a vertical position on the Demag CC 8800-1’s hook in a controlled manner by using a tailing operation. To do this, the CC 2800-1 first picked up the splitter column from its end and then lift it to a height of 0.5 m.
At the same time, the CC 8800-1 lifted the load from its other end while the CC 2800-1 slowly moved forward until the splitter column was hanging from the CC 8800-1’s hook and the assist crane was no longer under load. After the team released the CC 2800-1’s slinging gear, the CC 8800-1 brought the splitter column to the required position in order to set it down exactly at the intended point.
“Tandem lifts are already complex operations in and of themselves, but when you add a heavy load with this type of dimensions, things get even trickier,” said Mr Ang.
With such a challenge, the job had to be meticulously planned. A technician and a mechanic were also present on the job site, ready to fix any issues that might have occurred. Thanks to this conscientious effort, Tiong Woon was able to carry out the project successfully to the customer’s full satisfaction, and even finished it a few days earlier than scheduled.
“We were at the work site for a total of 69 days with our cranes and 25 people on average. The fact that the weather conditions were ideal and, especially, that the two Demag cranes have such incredible performance characteristics played a crucial role in enabling us to finish the project earlier than planned – this goes particularly for the CC 8800-1 with the boom booster, which was an absolute requirement in order to be able to lift a load with these dimensions and this weight,” explained Mr Ang.
“Needless to say, we were also tremendously thankful for the support provided by the Demag team during the test setup. It served as further confirmation of the fact that we can always rely on Demag for fast and expert help with any issues at any time, which is why we’ve always been happy with the service they provide.”
