Dubai-based regional crane services heavyweight, Al Faris, recently performed a series of heavy lift operations for a power plant in the emirate in a job that included lifting 12 generators of various sizes and weights, going up to 404t, in confined spaces.

According to Al Faris, the lifts had to take place in-between existing structures at the power plant and the space constraints required meticulous planning. After careful consideration and calculations, the company opted to use its Liebherr LR 11000 lattice boom crawler crane as the most suitable to safely carry out the heavy lifts.

The crane’s strength and capacity along with its various boom configurations made it the ideal choice and the most efficient crane for demanding heavy lifts at heights, such as this, said Al Faris.

The lift’s execution was planned and done by Al Faris’ team of trained and qualified experts and all technical support documentation, execution plans and schedules were prepared in-house. According to the company, this helped organise all activities from beginning to end and made for minimum delays, ultimately safely lifting the generators in the confined space.

With more than 26 years of experience in heavy lifting, Al Faris said it took adherence to the best HSE practices very seriously and all safety matters were discussed in detail with the client prior to the commencement of the operation.

Before the final lift, the crane was assembled with the required ballast weight and slinged with heavy duty webbing belts detailed in the lifting plan. Al Faris said its team of planning engineers, heavy lift managers and supervisors were all present on site to ensure a safe and efficient lift.

The big powerhouse – the 1000T Liebherr LR 11000 lattice boom crawler crane – was used with an SDWB2 configuration (main boom 48m, luffer 30m) while lifting the 404t generator. It was the largest lift Al Faris had ever performed with a single crane.

The entire execution included lifting the generator from the hydraulic trailer and manoeuvring the crane with the load towards the foundation, which was approximately 10m away, to achieve the planned radius. The load was then hoisted to a height of 30m and rotated over a high-rise steel structure and slowly lowered to approximately 15m within the narrow space between the steel structures to the foundation level. The final alignment of the load was done by coordinating with the installation team. A similar lifting procedure was followed to safely lift the remaining 11 generators.