Alaska Crane opens North Slope Operations; takes delivery of two new Liebherr all-terrain cranes, a LTM 1500-8.1; 8 axel 600 ton and a LTM 1220-5.2; 5 axel 265 ton cranes.
Alaska Crane, headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, has recently taken delivery of 2 new Liebherr all-terrain cranes; an LTM 1500-8.1; 8 axel 600 ton and an LTM 1220-5.2; 5 axel 265 ton.
With these new cranes, the largest-capacity all-terrains in the State, Alaska Crane brings innovative solutions to the various construction and operation/maintenance communities within our State. Never before has Alaska had the flexibility of mobile, large capacity, lifting technology. “With our large capacity cranes, clients may look to them, not to save money, but to make money” says Jim St. George, President of Alaska Crane “. “We have smaller cranes to offer, but with these large-capacity options, clients may perform more work on the ground, swinging larger pre-fabricated or pre-assembled members into place with quantitative efficiency while exponentially increasing safety on the jobsite”.
Alaska is not only unique because of its isolation from the lower 48 states, its infrastructure is spread over a vast geographic area; an area, which would stretch from coast to coast of those lower contiguous states. Alaska is home to the 800 mile trans-Alaska pipeline, remote wind farms that are barge and train accessible only, and home to the oil and gas fields of the North Slope. Alaska Crane, recognizing the lack of economies of scale to support Alaska’s unique infrastructure, extended their all-terrain crane fleet as an innovative approach to this problem. These cranes drive down the highway at speeds up to 45 mph with very few fall off loads, all of which are highway legal without the need for pilot car escort. They are rapidly deployed through our “taxi cranes service” business model and they are efficient to set up on the jobsite.
The LTM 1500 8.1 is the only all-terrain crane in the State that has the capacity to service the remote large utility scale wind turbines in a streamlined fashion. This crane drives on and off of landing crafts and railcars with only 10 fall off loads required to assemble to its full 600 ton capacity; dressed out with the super lift and luffer package. Comparatively speaking, a comparable crawler crane would require roughly 30+ fall off loads and would take at least 3 times as long to assemble in the field.
When it comes to large capacity cranes, it isn’t always about the heavy lifts. Often their benefit is realized through their ability to pick or set items over a long distance. A good example of this is their ability to set rooftop HVAC units for large box store applications where historically, the only feasible option was through the use of a helicopter. The LTM 1220-5.2 can lift 3,200 lbs @ 279 feet and the LTM 1500 can lift 9000 lbs @ 350 feet.
Alaska’s economy is resource development based, with the oil and gas sector being the primary contributor, by a large margin. “In this tough economic environment, we are proud to offer these all-terrain cranes as an innovated solution to our client’s needs.” Says David Myers, Director of Business Development for Alaska Crane. At the time where most are contracting their business activities, Alaska Crane has extended their taxi crane service to the oil and gas fields of the North Slope, opening a new operations office there with these all terrain crane options. Currently, Alaska Crane is servicing the Slope with their new LTM 1220 5.1; 265 ton all terrain with the plan to move up the LTM 1500 8.1 as needed.