One of the world’s largest gantry cranes has been erected at a port in Poland. The new 120m crane will be used for moving steel fabrications. Raising the crane was itself a major lifting challenge for contractor Mammoet

Wheel sets and bracings of Goliath crane are installed, with disassembly of the ga

The crane has been built by Van Haagen Kraanbouw in the Netherlands and transported to the fabrication site of Bilfinger Mars Offshore.

In order to execute this lifting operation, Mammoet constructed a tailor-made gantry with a height of 127m. This Goliath crane represents the tallest gantry ever built by the company in Europe.

Gantries usually raise loads from an overhead beam between two supporting towers, but this project was unique because of the load. The crane was assembled around the gantry before it was raised into place. Hence the gantry was at the center of the construction and was used to accurately raise the Goliath crane onto its legs.

At this stage of construction the Goliath crane had a weight of 1,200t and its four legs were tailed. The main crane girders were raised by the gantry, dealing with four additional points and affecting the forces on the gantry and its stability.

Now installed on its wheel sets, the Goliath is one of the largest gantry cranes in Europe, standing over 120m with a total weight of 1,800t and a lifting capacity of 1,400t. The crane will be used at the Bilfinger Mars Offshore production site to support the fabrication of steel offshore foundations, including transition pieces, jackets and monopiles and to load them onto pontoons.

Mammoet engineered the 127m high gantry especially for this project. It consisted of 95% standard components and 5% customdesigned equipment. The combination of creative engineering with a large and flexible collection of equipment enabled Mammoet to carry out an unusual, technically challenging lift, tailor-made for the customer’s requirements

Giant gantry for record breaking goliath