Moodie's ups the ante

 Moodie's Crane Rentals is one of the three main crane operators in Nova Scotia, along with Irving Equipment Ltd and A.W.Leil  Cranes and Equipment Ltd (a Seafort Capital partner company). Moddie's has offices in Halifax (Burnside) and Pictou. What may be its largest crane recently posed for a photo op on the waterfront.

It is a Grove ( by Manitowoc) GMK 5250L,  which is a 5 axle, 250 tonne capacity unit with a 110 ft reach. It is also equipped with a three axle dolly to comply with Nova Scotia road weight regulations.

Grove brochures show the boom nested over the cab (where the roof is depressed) however that would place too much weight on the axles so the dolly is used to distribute the load.

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Cranes for Crane - Part 2

Work continues dismantling a Potain tower crane that came down during Hurricane Dorian (see Part 1, September 27.) A second large crane has now been raised to assist in the work.

 This one is a Manitowoc 440 ton crawler with lattice boom. I estimate the boom to be about 300 feet.

The Manitowoc model number is 14-440T-03, 16000. A number of cranes of this type are advertised on line for sale or rent, the nearest in Mississauga, ON another in Syracuse, NY. I imagine R&D Cranes brought this one in especially for this project.

There are "smaller" cranes on the job too, including a Grove 9000-02, used to assemble the crawler and a Grove GMK 5240 (no clear view of this one for a photo.)

The mast of the Potain tower crane is still resting against the adjacent building, but since this photo was taken it has been lashed to the structure of that building. That building was under construction, but work has now been suspended.

The red arrow shows where the mast clipped another adjacent (occupied) building on the way down.

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Crane for a Crane

On September 8, 2019 Hurricane Dorian passed through Halifax. The class 1 storm toppled trees, tore off roofs and brought down utility lines.

The most spectacular damage however was the collapse of a tower crane that draped its boom over a nearby building and left its mast leaning against the same building.

Removal and clean up will be a lengthy and complex operation, and a variety of equipment has been mobilized to handle the job. One particularly impressive piece of gear is the Grove GMK 6400 all terrain crane owned by R+D Cranes of Dartmouth, NS (a division of Cherubini Metal Workers).

Boom stowed in the conventional position, the crane appeared to be newly arrived from the factory in July.

Manitowoc introduced the GMK 6400 model in 2017 and is rated at 400 tonnes, 450 tons (US) and has a self-rigging auxiliary hoist. It has a 60m main boom and a 136m maximum tip height.

The crane requires a dolly to distribute the load sufficiently to travel on Nova Scotia roads. Gross vehicle weight is 72,000 kg or 158,730 lbs.

The tower crane that came down was manufactured by Potain in France, and has been used on other projects in Halifax.

(2014 photo on a different project)

A major street in the area, and several businesses  (one block from my house) remain closed until the remains of the  crane can be removed.

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Road Trip

Truckfax will be heading out on a road trip for the next week or so, and will not be posting.

A brand new Grove GMK5250L crane arrived in Halifax recently by ship. It was parked and also ready to hit the road this evening.

The 5 axle, 250 tonne capacity crane has too many features to list here, but Manitowoc has a more than adequate spec sheet http://www.manitowoccranes.com/GMK5250L

 

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