In June this year OOO Liebherr-Russland and OOO Lukoil–Kaliningradmorneft signed a contract for a new combined mobile harbour and offshore crane to be delivered by the end of 2012.
The new crane is designed for two completely different types of application: on the one hand, the TCC 14000-400 D Litronic® can be used in harbours as a powerful crane for lifting heavy loads up to max. 400 t. On the other hand, it is possible to drive the crane onto a floating installation (barge) where it is fixed and used as an offshore crane under offshore conditions.
The crane’s special feature lies primarily in its design as it was developed using existing technologies from the offshore crane and mobile harbour crane product groups. For the undercarriage of the TCC 14000-400 D Litronic® the drive technology of a Liebherr mobile harbour crane was combined with a newly designed steel fabrication: it consists of a central X-shaped structure to which four outriggers are mounted. For travelling operation the base structure is fitted with 48 wheel sets as known from the conventional Liebherr mobile harbour crane. During crane operation the crane is propped up on support units situated at the end of the outriggers. The dimensions of the support base are 22 m x 22 m. Using a large number of wheel sets and accordingly large supporting pads the crane achieves equally low ground pressure values as a standard mobile harbour crane, not only while travelling but also during crane operation.
The TCC 14000-400 D Litronic® was developed under close consultation between Lukoil–Kaliningradmorneft and Liebherr–Werk Nenzing GmbH. The crane’s wide variety of application possibilities mainly result from the close cooperation of two R&D departments – the mobile harbour crane and offshore crane departments.
In autumn 2011 the specialists of Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH finished project documentation for the new crane. Production is now commencing.
[mappress] World Maritime News Staff, November 28, 2011; Image: Liebherr