As mining engineering company FL Smidth (FLS) decommissions a 10 t Condra portal crane in Mozambique for reuse in a company workshop in Ghana, crane manufacturer Condra Cranes Johannesburg has completed two new machines of similar design and capacity to join it.

In addition, Condra Cranes has shipped two 15-t-capacity portal cranes to FLS Saudi Arabia.

The four newly completed cranes were dispatched in mid-August, fulfilling orders placed by FLS’s Sub-Sahara and West Africa Procurement Service in March.

“Condra Cranes has a long-standing relationship with FLS, enjoying a reputation for reliable, robust machines efficiently serviced by maintenance crews pre-cleared to enter destination countries throughout Africa and the Middle East,” a Condra Cranes spokesperson says.

The two new cranes for the Ghana operation, along with the machine from Mozambique, all of which will be used for maintenance, will run on end- carriages customised with spaced nylon-treaded wheels to meet an FLS stipulation that floor loading at the workshop must not exceed 5 000 kg.

“The decommissioned Mozambique crane will have these end-carriages fitted upon arrival in Accra, Ghana, matching it to the twin 10 t portal machines.”

According to Condra Cranes, during the tender stage, FLS requested maximum floorspace and lifting height within the constraints of the Accra workshop building.

To achieve this, Condra Cranes used short headroom (SH) hoists from its Titan range, then mounted geared drives vertically on the end-carriages to achieve a floorspace saving of about half that required by conventional mounts.

Other features include digital loadcell hoist readouts, variable- speed drives on the long-travel mechanisms and pendant backup for hand-held remote control units.

Meanwhile, the two 15 t portal cranes for Saudi Arabia, which have a general configuration similar to the cranes headed to the Ghana operation, will be installed in the FLS workshop in Dammam, an industrialised port city in the east of the country on the Persian Gulf.

They will run on conventional steel wheels and rails.

“The tight constraints imposed by limited workshop space on crane installation at Dammam posed a challenge during the design phase: box girders, 15 t hoists, girder legs and end- carriages had all to be capable of assembly and installation within a vertical plane measuring just 8.3 m across by 5.4 m high.”

Short-headroom SH hoists from the Titan range helped meet this challenge.

“Features of the Saudi cranes are similar to those for Ghana, with the exception of two-speed drives throughout, there being no variable-speed drives on the Saudi cranes,” explains the Condra Cranes spokesperson.

Condra Cranes used 3D modelling software to prepare all four cranes for packing, virtually presenting them on-screen to digitised standard containers.

Only two containers were needed for actual dispatch to each country.

“Condra Crane’s Titan SH hoists are designed to make maximum use of expensive factory space – headroom as well as floor – reducing the size of many constituent parts to take height out of the final crane assembly.”

They incorporate refinements such as automatic rope tensioning, smoother travel, built-in load limiter, standardised direct drive and universal carriage.

The installation and commissioning of the FLS cranes in Accra and Dammam is expected to take place in late September.