Gulf Construction Online - Liebherr rises to the Bosphorus challenge

Turkey Review

Liebherr cranes work on the Bosphorus.

Liebherr rises to the Bosphorus challenge

01 August 2014

SIX Liebherr cranes are being used by Turkish contractor Endem Construction to construct the access roads for the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey.

Construction work on the bridge, which is officially known as the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, began in May 2013. When completed in 2015, the bridge will take eight lanes of motorway and two lanes of railway line across the Bosphorus, the stretch of water that separates the European and Asian land masses, and which bisects Istanbul.

Five of the cranes are on rental from Liebherr’s distributor for Turkey, Atilla Dural Mumessillik Insaat Turizm, while the sixth one is owned by Endem.

A consortium formed by ICTAS of Turkey and the Italian firm Astaldi is building the bridge and motorway under a build-operate-transfer agreement. Hyundai Engineering and Construction is heading a joint venture that is building the lateral towers, aprons and suspension cables.

Endem Construction is responsible for building the viaducts, bridges and other connections for the bridge. It is renting four eight-tonne-capacity high-top 132 EC-H 8 Litronic units from Atilla Dural, and one fast-erecting 120 K.1 crane, also with eight-tonne capacity and which can lift 1.45 tonnes at a maximum radius of 50 m. A second 120 K.1, which is owned by the contractor, is also in use on the site.

The 132 EC-H 8 is Liebherr’s most popular crane in Turkey, used for its heavy-lifting capabilities and fast operating speeds, while the 120 K.1 combines the same maximum lift capacity with an ability to function in a limited space owing to its easy erection, a 45-degree obstruction avoidance angle, and a 30-degree raised jib working angle.

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which is designed by French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and Jean-Francois Klein from Geneva-based T-Engineering, is being built north of the two existing Bosphorus bridges and is a cable-stayed structure with a total length of 1,875 m, a width of 59 m, and a height of 320 m. The central span will the ninth longest suspension bridge span in the world, with a length of 1,408 m.

The bridge is part of the proposed 260-km-long Northern Marmara Motorway, which will bypass urban areas of northern Istanbul, while the rail system will be integrated with the Marmaray mass transit and the Istanbul subway.