Five Potain cranes are constructing pylons at the Viaduto do Corgo in Portugal. The viaduct will be one of the longest — 2,796 m — and tallest in the country.
Manitowoc’s Portugal office provided the cranes on a rental contract and will manage them throughout the project. In addition to installing the cranes, the local Manitowoc Crane Care team is also climbing and relocating the cranes as the project progresses.
Each crane is working with a 45 m jib and is constructing four pylons at a time. In order to construct all the pylons, the cranes are required to move eight times during the project. The pylons are spaced 60 m apart over a distance of 1.6 km.
There is one flat top crane on the project, the MDT 178, that has a maximum lift capacity of 8 t. The other cranes are all cathead-design cranes from the MD line. There is an MD 235, two MD 238s and an MD 265, each with a maximum lift capacity of 12 t. This allows the cranes to comfortably handle the average loads on the project, which are 6 t.
Aside from regularly moving the cranes around the jobsite, the other major challenge for Manitowoc Crane Care is continually climbing the cranes. Working heights on the project range from 70 m to 123 m.
To achieve such heights, Manitowoc Crane Care needs 30 anchors to secure the cranes to the structure over the course of the project. Engineers at Manitowoc Crane Care are designing, producing and installing each anchor.
Elísio Rangel, Manitowoc’s area sales manager for tower cranes in Iberica, said the size and prominence of the project make it a real challenge.
“This is currently one of the highest-profile projects in Portugal and one of the most challenging,” he said. “We are working closely with the main contractor to ensure the cranes fulfill their part in bringing the highway to life. So far they have performed very well, and the Manitowoc Crane Care team has worked tirelessly, making sure any downtime from climbing, relocating or maintaining the cranes is in line with the customer’s schedule.”
Work on the Viaduto do Corgo began in December 2010, and the cranes will finish work at the end of 2011. The viaduct is part of the larger Transmontana highway, a EUR600 million project that will connect Portugal’s second largest city of Porto with the Spanish border.
Portuguese contractor Soares da Costa and Spanish company FCC formed a joint venture to complete the project.