July 15 - Sarens Group has used two Terex AC 700 all-terrain cranes to lift a 145-tonne spreader bar onto a huge offshore module at Fabric's Hoboken facility in Antwerp, Belgium.

Steel construction company Iemants contracted Sarens to lift the oversize spreader bar, which had the dimensions 13.5 m x 5 m x 6 m, onto the huge module, in order to assist offshore lifting operations.

The spreader bar was lifted to a height of 32 m using the two nine-axle 700-tonne capacity Terex cranes, equipped with 60 m main telescoping booms.

Sarens chose to use the two all-terrain cranes instead of one larger capacity crawler crane due to the "significant time and money savings".

In order to avoid a potential overload on one of the cranes, Sarens positioned a 160-tonne capacity swivel beam in between the spreader bar and the cranes' hook blocks.

The two cranes initially operated at a 22 m radius, decreasing to 17 m as the cranes swivelled the load into position.

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Abdullah Al Areedh has put two Terex AC 500-2 all-terrain cranes to use in the erection of a launching gantry as part of the Riyadh Metro project.

The cranes were employed to lift the 142-tonne beams and supporting winch to a height of 16.75 m, which required the surrounding roads to be closed.

"Our crew was working in the middle of the road, so there was very little room for cranes and operators to manoeuvre," said Mohammed I Alrasheed, operations manager at Mohammad Abdullah Al Areedh.

To complete the job, the cranes were configured with 37.9 m booms and outfitted with 180 tonnes of counterweight. The cranes then worked in tandem to lift the beams at a radius of 16 m and 18 m, respectively.

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