Gulf Construction Online - New crane aims to be a Goliath in stockyard

Cranes & Hoists

The new-design stockyard crane from Street Crane.

New crane aims to be a Goliath in stockyard

01 August 2005

UK-based Street Crane Company has launched its new-design stockyard crane that holds significant appeal for the expanding construction and manufacturing businesses in the Gulf region.

The unique Goliath design allows more efficient use of storage space, while speeding loading and unloading operations to improve efficiency, Street Crane’s sales director Keith Rainford says.
The new crane features a main beam that is offset from the support frames and has a cantilevered hoist to keep loads clear of the support legs. In addition, the main beam can project beyond the track edge on either side to allow unimpeded loading and unloading of trucks.
“This makes available the whole storage area between the tracks as the need for access roadways within them is eliminated,” says Rainford.
The new crane is suitable for use by steel stockholders, steel fabricators, shipbuilders, concrete fabrication yards and in other high-turnover open-air storage and manufacturing situations.
“The new design allows the safe handling of loads from one to 25 tonnes, while higher capacity handling is available on conventional double girder cranes. Street Crane offers complete solutions as every crane is custom built and engineered to meet the client’s specific process needs,” he says.
Street Crane operates throughout the Gulf in partnership with Ace Crane Systems in Dubai and Syscon in Bahrain. Working with Street Crane, these local companies provide a complete service to analyse customer needs and develop cranes to meet process, technical and environmental needs. As major structural components are manufactured in the Gulf in compliance with Street Crane specifications and British Standards, local companies are able to offer attractive delivery and competitive costs, he points out.
Street Crane’s local partners provide on-going technical support, which includes planned maintenance, supply and fitting of consumables and spares, emergency call-out and advice and assistance with crane upgrade and modernisation.
The stockyard cranes from Street Crane incorporate the company’s open barrel hoist technology for true vertical lift and load placement. “This avoids any lateral movement that could damage the product on lift or landing and cause additional loads or strains on mechanical components and the crane structure,” he explains.
The cranes are available with various control options including ground control by radio remote or pendant control from a high level cab on the crane bridge. Cabs can be air-conditioned and pressurised where this is a requirement.
The new cranes also come with a host of additional features. Speeds for long, cross and vertical travel are carefully selected to meet each client’s process requirement. “Various systems are available to ensure load stability from inverter control for smooth acceleration and deceleration to Street’s unique XY-zero system for totally accurate positioning and stability. Safety systems can include audible alarms to warn of the cranes advance and sophisticated anti collision systems,” says Rainford.
“The company also offers systems that can map the working area and programme crane movement to auto-matically and safely avoid large plant, obstructions or other non-access areas,” he adds
Electrical and control systems for the cranes are specially engineered to deal with the extreme conditions encountered in the Middle East. This includes the need to handle high temperature, humidity, dust and coastal environments.
“Motors, for example, may be sized so that work-induced heat, allied to high ambient temperatures, does not result in excessive working temperature. Control cabinets and instrumentation will be protected from solar radiation, pressurised and air-conditioned to exclude dust and maintain optimum working tempe-rature,” he says.
In addition to Goliath stockyard cranes, Street Crane and its associate companies can offer the full range of single and double girder overhead cranes with load handling capacity up to 150 tonnes, he says.
Street Crane has been supplying overhead cranes to projects throughout the Gulf for more than 30 years and its projects have included cranes for power stations, smelters, shipyards, factories, concrete fabrication yards and many other industries. The company understands the special requirements imposed by high temperatures and dust and has developed cranes to provide reliable long-term performance in harsh conditions and under heavy use.
Street Crane with its local trading partners is deeply involved in the economic diversification programmes and the move to added-value industries. The local association was allowed Street to remain close to its customer in the region.
Street Crane has already handled several supply orders to the leading fabricators and construction majors in the region, through its partners Syscon Trading in Bahrain and Ace Crane Systems of Dubai.
Among recent orders, Syscon has supplied 30 Street cranes for a new fabrication facility of Bahrain’s specialist fabricator Ahmed Mansoor Al A’Ali (AMA) Company. Street has also made significant inroads into the Dubai market, where its partner Ace Crane has supplied 10 cranes to improve product flow and boost capacity for Al Naboodah Laing O’Rourke (ANLR) in Dubai, a leading supplier of joinery products.