Maxim’s first Tadano CC 78.1250-1 dismantles Sammis power station

The 2.2-gigawatt W.H. Sammis station on the Ohio River generated its first power in 1960 and was fully decommissioned in 2023, clearing the way for redevelopment into an energy and data centre campus. B&B Wrecking of Cleveland is bringing down the seven power units, five chimneys and multiple baghouses, mostly by controlled implosion. But several baghouses sit on a tunnel bridge deck running above Ohio Route 7, hemmed in by power lines, waterways and rail infrastructure, and have to be cut at height and lifted down instead.

“This is more of a dismantling than demolition because of the sheer size, weight and stakeholder issues that we could possibly encounter.”

— Bryan Donatelli, onsite project manager, B&B Wrecking

Filling a fleet gap

The crawler cranes of up to 700 tonnes already supplied by Maxim Crane Works lacked the reach and capacity to lift the roughly 230-tonne baghouse sections economically, and B&B initially looked elsewhere. Maxim’s crawler fleet ran from 30 to 2,300 tonnes, but with nothing between 1,000 and 1,300 tonnes. The Wilder, Kentucky-based rental house closed that gap by ordering the 1,250-tonne class CC 78.1250-1 — the first unit of the type delivered anywhere in the world — and shipped it from the port straight to the jobsite.

“Our primary reasons for picking the CC 78.1250-1 were its high capacity, flexibility and easy transport. It was a true partnership between us and Tadano. They helped us land this first job.”

— Dan Murray, VP of crawler cranes, Maxim Crane Works

Despite the jump in size, Maxim needed no new trailers: every component, including the capacity-boosting Boom Booster kit, folds down to fit the company’s existing heavy-haul fleet. Assembly began in early February with four Tadano technicians on site, and the crew beat the agreed erection window by almost a week.

Picks at 90 per cent

For the Sammis lifts the crane was rigged with 74 m of main boom and a 48 m luffing jib, carrying 208 tonnes of main body counterweight plus 20 tonnes of central ballast. The Superlift configuration added a 42 m mast at a 21 m radius with 540 tonnes of counterweight on the Split Tray, whose quick-coupling design lets unneeded counterweight be dropped off quickly after boom assembly.

Working from former chimney foundations, the crane is making around 13 picks per position across three set-up locations. The heaviest lift so far came to roughly 294 tonnes — at 90 per cent of chart in that configuration. Operator Patrick Steiner, new to the IC-1 control system, praised the crane’s precision and the 1.6 m wide S-Pace cab. The CC 78.1250-1 is expected to stay on site for about six months, after which Maxim says demand from refining, petrochemical and steel projects is already queueing up.