Four Grove all-terrains erect container crane at London port

Four cranes, one hook path

Assembling a ship-to-shore container crane is a job with very little tolerance for error, and J&M Crane & Transport chose to do it with four Grove all-terrains rather than a single larger machine. The UK company, which owns all four cranes, also carried out the lift planning and engineering for the harbourside installation.

The line-up was a GMK6300L-1, a GMK5250XL-1, a GMK5250L and a GMK5150L. Each was configured specifically for its part in the operation, with boom lengths set between 27.7 m and 33.5 m and counterweight, rigging and outrigger spread matched to the geometry of the lift. Short booms at those capacities keep the cranes deep in the strong part of their charts, which is what a multi-crane pick of a 199 t assembly demands.

Twelve hours, six weeks

The engineered lift itself ran for 12 hours and formed the culmination of a six-week installation programme. Planning was done in-house using J&M’s own CAD blocks, allowing the team to model crane positions and clearances before anything was rigged on the quay.

“This project was all about detail, delivery, and reliability. We selected the four Grove cranes for this lift because we knew they offered the strength and reassurance we needed. We used our in-house J&M CAD Blocks for lift planning and after many weeks of installation and set-up, it was fantastic to see the four cranes install the 199 t upperworks on the legs of the container crane.”

— Ben Lawrence, sales director and CPCS Appointed Person, J&M Crane & Transport

The fleet behind it

The GMK6300L-1 is the largest of the group: a six-axle crane with 300 t capacity and an 80 m main boom. The other three are five-axle models with capacities between 150 t and 250 t, giving the company a set of machines that can be combined in different pairings depending on the job.

J&M bought the cranes directly from Manitowoc’s UK office, which also provides parts, service, training and technical assistance from facilities at Buckingham and Barnsley. The company is family-owned and has been trading since the 1950s, offering crane hire, engineered lifting, transport and abnormal load movement to customers across the UK with a focus on the south of England.