Bridge action in the heart of Hamburg
At the heart of Hamburg, Hüffermann Krandienst GmbH, EISELE GmbH and Thömen Spedition GmbH & Co. KG carried out a spectacular infrastructure project: In the space of a few days, they installed nine new steel superstructures at Ferdinandstor for the national and regional rail network, with each bridge weighing around 120 tonnes.
Scroll down for more
The specialists relied on Cometto technology: SPMT units combined with hydraulic jack-up systems enabled the thick sheet metal trough bridges to be exactly positioned, even with the very restricted space in the city centre. „Our team’s task consists of hoisting new railway bridges using our jack-up and SPMT technology,“ explains Rocco Schimmel, Head of Crane Services, Heavy Installation & Project Engineering at EISELE. „Because the available space is extremely tight, we are temporarily keeping the bridges on the roundabout on the outer side of the Alster at first and moving them precisely into place as required.“
Precise manoeuvring on Cometto SPMT
The installation process took place under particularly demanding conditions: two SPMT units coupled in parallel – one 6-axle trailer and one 4-axle trailer with power pack unit – were combined by the teams with 2x2 JS 250 jackup systems. In this way, the bridges can be hoisted with millimetre accuracy up to an angle of 43 degrees, taking into account a downward slope of 8 percent in the direction of travel and 3 percent sideways. „What is particularly challenging is that we have to place the bridges on the SPMTs at a 45 or 25-degree angle and only have a very tight clearance inside the routes through the bridge channel“, explains Roco Schimmel. A 3-point support is used, whilst a third SPMT unit transports the temporarily stored bridges. The team is supported during the process by a total of seven truck-mounted cranes.
Faster than planned
„The bridges have to be levelled with centimetre accuracy – and it works wonderfully. We can lift them with millimetre accuracy, which is great!!“ says Rocco Schimmel. „It is not the first time we are using Cometto axles, and it always works brilliantly – there are no complaints at all in terms of the technology.“ The companies originally planned five days for the installation process. Thanks to efficient collaboration between all the main players and reliable technology, they successfully completed the project after just three days. „Cometto, EISELE and Thömen can be rely proud of the fact that we hoisted the bridges so quickly, precisely and safely,“ says Rocco Schimmel in conclusion.
‘X-hire renting’ in perfection
„This project“, says Joachim Kolb, Sales Manager at Cometto, „shows once again and in an impressive manner how ‘X-hire renting’ works. No fewer than four German Cometto clients were involved in this project with their SPMT technology and showed with the ultimate perfection how successfully they could work together as a team.“ ‘X-hire renting’ in the SPMT sector refers to the flexible short-term rental of SPMT modules and power packs to cover temporary transport peaks.
