With power and finesse - Goldhofer lifts 1050 ton cranes

Goldhofer AG is known for its spectacular missions. The latest coup of the leading global market supplier of transport equipment: Goldhofer was decisively involved in ensuring that two 35 metre wide, 28 metre long and 48 metre high ship unloading stations could be put into service in Taiwan. With each colossus weighing 1.050 tonnes it is possible to unload up to 2.200 tonnes of coal per hour. Deployed was a three-fold parallel coupled Goldhofer self-propelled combination of type PST/SL 22 P(1+1+1), which was driven by two Goldhofer powerpacks, each with 430 HP.

The 66-axle heavy-duty combination moved each crane over a braced seawall and placed it precisely on its track. With the payload centre of gravity located at a height of 20 metres it was necessary to fastidiously ensure that each ship unloading station did not tilt. If one adds together the 24 containers plus the load distribution frames (180 tonnes), as well as the dead weight of the Goldhofer combination (238 tonnes) then the Goldhofer PST/SL self-propelled transporter was required to shift a total of 1468 tonnes. This results to an axle load of approx. 23 tonnes.

"Power on one hand, finesse and precision on the other. When undertaking the project in Taiwan it was once again clear to see how broadly positioned we actually are with our product range, making us equipped for the most difficult of tasks"; the words of Goldhofer service engineer Markus Heinle, who also assisted the transportation on site.

The main problem that arose within the framework of the task was not the transportation itself. The 500 metre route from the site of production and assembly to the bank had been travelled in around two hours. During this process it was particularly necessary to ensure that the wheels, which were to subsequently run on the rails, encountered no impacts. The greatest challenge was preparing and wrapping up the transportation. This required almost one day per crane.

During transportation, two 90 degree bends proved a risky prospect as the payload centre of gravity was located at a height of 20 metres and was extremely off-centre. One foot of the crane jutted 13 metres above the transport bed and the other just two metres, in order to stably distribute the loads. "The specialists from "Sea & Land" executed the work perfectly and really got everything out of our self-propelled transporters. They were even required to fully utilise the axle stroke of 600 mm in order to be able to lower the cranes repeatedly onto fixed or temporary transport rails and to lift them over rails lying across the route" explains Goldhofer CEO Stefan Fuchs.

"The project in Taiwan once again showed that we are the absolute specialists when it comes to difficult tasks", continues Goldhofer board chairman Stefan Fuchs.

About Goldhofer AG

The history of Goldhofer AG can be traced back to 1705. Today the company from Memmingen is one of the most important suppliers of HGV trailers, heavy-duty transport systems and aircraft tractors. Thanks to its broad product range, Goldhofer is able to cover an extremely wide range of requirements for any transport task. In doing so, the Allgäu-based company exhibits solution competence in the challenging field of combined transportation covering the modes of transport road, rail, sea and air, and are specialists in general road, heavy duty and special transport. Some 650 employees manufacture vehicles covering the payload range between 25 and 10,000 tonnes at our approx. 100,000 square meter corporate site.