Small Crawler Cranes Provide the Ability to Operate in Tight Spaces
Spotlight Cranes By Seth Skydel
Covering All Bases
Small Crawler Cranes Provide the Ability to Operate in Tight Spaces
They may seem like just the smaller siblings of their larger family members, but crawler cranes under 200 tons are a class of their own. Their value, according to users, is rooted in the ability to operate in tighter spaces and handle a variety of picks on construction and industrial sites, especially for energy and other infrastructure projects.
Such is the case for Sprague Energy, one of the largest independent suppliers of energy products and related services in the Northeast to commercial, industrial, utility and wholesale customers. Today, the more than 150-year-old company headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is leading a large-scale project to unload and transport massive wind turbine components from its Mack Point terminal in Searsport, Maine.
The quick availability of Liebherr crawler cranes helps drive their ideal use as multi-purpose machines on any construction site.
The operation, which began in January 2024 and is expected to wrap up this month, involves the use of Manitowoc crawler cranes to move components from sea vessels to holding yards and then onto trucks that will take them to various wind energy farms across the state. Maine is set to significantly expand its renewable energy infrastructure in the coming years. The new wind energy projects will further reduce CO 2 emissions and power more than 62,000 homes.
For the Searsport project, Sprague is using Manitowoc crawlers to perform up to 30 lifts per day of loads from 24.2 to 101.4 tons. The process of unloading and
22 CRANE HOT LINE ® October 2024 • www. cranehotline. com