Potain tower cranes are building one of the world’s longest cable-stayed bridges in China. Thrashed by high winds and monsoon conditions, the cranes are working 1,500 m above sea level in the mountains of southern China to build the Duge Beipanjiang Bridge, which will span 720 m on completion.
Six Potain tower cranes will work on the bridge during the course of the 570 million RMB project. Two cranes have been erected at the job site and are working on the bridge’s main pylons on either side of the huge Beipanjiang Canyon. The four other Potain cranes will arrive over the next few months and all of the cranes will work at the site for four years. The cranes will climb to final working heights of up to 290 m to complete the ambitious project.
Liupanshui Shengsheng Construction Equipment Leasing Co., Ltd., owns the Potain MCT 370 cranes and the company selected them for this project following favorable experiences on other job sites, as Shi Wenyang, general manager of Shengsheng, explains.
“Potain tower cranes are a premium product that demonstrate their value when pushed to their limits,” he says. “This bridge-building project is highly ambitious, and has a climate and location that will really test these cranes. But we know what they are capable of having used them on several previous projects. Potain cranes have always proven their value beyond our expectations.”
The Potain cranes at the Duge Beipanjiang Bridge project were transported more than 2,000 km from Potain’s facility in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, to the job site – much of it along narrow and winding roads. Now, they must contend with the monsoon climate, which fluctuates from freezing temperatures, high winds and snow through to drought and dust storms.
Operations for the cranes run 14 hours a day, every day, with both required to lift construction materials and equipment in loads of up to 20 t. The bridge’s pylons will measure 269 m and 247 m in height, so to contend with such high lifting heights the cranes are fitted with powerful winches that enable them to lift 17 t loads up to 270 m high.
Zhao Chao, deputy chief engineer of the project, said the support offered by Manitowoc Crane Care is a major reassurance on such a complicated project.
“The construction site is not conveniently located and working conditions on site can be very demanding,” he says. But Manitowoc’s team has come here many times to provide the best solution that meets our challenging needs.”
The Potain MCT 370 is built at Potain’s facility in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, China. The maximum jib length is 75 m while 2.7 t can be lifted at the jib end. The MCT 370 has a maximum free-standing height of more than 64 m.
Duge Beipanjiang Bridge will span across the Beipanjiang Canyon at the boundary of Yunnan Province and Guizhou Province. Total length for the bridge will be 1,340 m and having started in 2012, work is expected to complete in 2016.
Main contractor in charge of the build is Second Harbour Engineering Company, a subsidiary of the Fortune 500 listed China Communications Construction Company Ltd. In addition to the bridge the company is building a 3.4 km section of the Bidu Expressway, which includes three tunnels and seven bridges. Total cost for the contract is RMB 570 million.
Established in 2008, Liupanshui Shengsheng Construction Equipment Leasing Co., Ltd operates a fleet of almost 200 tower cranes and construction elevators. It is one of the largest crane rental companies in Guizhou.