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Liebherr ’ s LR 13 000 crawler crane is the most powerful conventional crawler crane in the world , with its main areas of use in power plant construction .
roads , whereas predominantly the Liebherr all-terrain cranes are complete units that have bigger tyres and independently driven axels for better manoeuvrability on uneven under-foot surfaces , able to get into tighter spots ,” he explains .
Liebherr-Africa was one of the first Liebherr companies outside of Germany , founded in 1958 in Springs .
In the beginning , Liebherr-Africa was responsible for the manufacture and sale of tower cranes , specialised cranes , and concrete mixers .
The story goes that after World War II , during the reconstruction of Germany , Hans Liebherr recognised the need for tools and machinery for the building industry and domestic construction . In 1949 , he developed the mobile tower crane , which can simply be erected on site , thereby enabling quick and low-cost construction . Legend has it that the design for the crane was drawn on the ground of his property .
Today , the company sells and supports construction machines as well as mining and material handling equipment for the group .
The Liebherr Group ’ s crane programme covers equipment for all systems and scales and offers lifting solutions for various civil engineering projects , while its comprehensive mobile crane range extends from 35-tonne models to a heavyduty crane with a load capacity of 1 200 tonnes . High-speed all-terrain mobile cranes and telescopic truck-mounted cranes , compact cranes and heavy-duty lattice boom cranes are used all over the world . Long booms , enormous load capacities , short erection times , and high comfort and safety standards make its machines flexible and economical .
The gigantic LR 13 000 crawler crane is the most powerful conventional crawler crane in the world , with its main areas of use in power plant construction .
In South Africa , Liebherr recently launched a rough-terrain mobile crane , the LRT 1090-2.1 , a welcome addition to the Liebherr mobile crane portfolio . Having been specifically designed with safety in mind , the 90-ton capacity LRT 1090-2.1 crane features an outrigger monitoring system as standard , while the VarioBase variable base developed by Liebherr also comes standard as another means of enhancing safety .
In addition , the LRT 1090-2.1 features a 47m hydro-mechanical telescoping boom system with rope pull technology , enabling the boom to be extended to the required length quickly and easily to provide a hook height of 66m within a radius of 2.5m .
Bates points out that the Zoomlion brand has been in South Africa for over 10 years and the perception that Eastern brands are inferior “ is not a major issue anymore ”, he says and adds : “ We trade in 10-year-old Zoomlion cranes and on-sell them faster than European or Japanese brands ,” he claims .
The European standard has always been held as the benchmark for quality , so it ’ s interesting to hear Bates add : “ Zoomlion quality is now up with the European quality standards .” Zoomlion is one of the top six largest heavy equipment manufacturers in the world and claims to have the largest crawler crane factory globally .
He continues : “ We have sold over 300 cranes , so we have a very strong client database that gives our products great references . The perception issue
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AUGUST 2018