PALFINGER: The Crawler Crane Makes it Possible

When loading compressors from the old Berlin-Tegel airport, hardly any heavy-load-bearing terrain is available. A powerful solution with stabilizers that are flexible and high is needed here. That is why the construction company C-TECH is using the C-REX PCC 115.002 from PALFINGER and achieving the desired results with it.

The new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport has (finally) started operations, while the legendary Berlin-Tegel Airport has closed its doors. Among other things, the site is now being converted into an industrial and research park for urban technologies — a Herculean task given the highly complex infrastructure that has grown over decades.

Recycling during dismantling

“Our mission was to lift 16-ton compressors from the old air conditioning system out of their mounting safely and without damaging them, and then take them away,” explains crane operator and
C-TECH managing director Mark Drescher. However, the site covered by Tegel is crisscrossed by a myriad pipes for firefighting water and fuel, as well as by cisterns and supply shafts. So the ground beyond the old runways is as porous as old rubber. Positioning a crane safely turns out to be an almost impossible task under these circumstances. One solution would be to use a mobile crane. But this would entail very high costs. And that is precisely what must be avoided in Tegel. So it is here that the crawler crane comes into its own — and can play to its strengths.

Problem solver PCC

The PALFINGER Crawler Crane combines a maximum outreach and high lifting capacity with extremely compact dimensions. The powerful PCC 115.002 model is the largest crawler crane, with an outreach of 33.3 meters, a maximum lifting height of 35.8 meters and lifting capacity of up to 30,000 kilograms. It is used where other solutions are impractical due to lack of space or uneven terrain. Thanks to its H-shaped stabilizers, the crawler crane impresses in the most difficult terrain. On Tegel's porous subsoil, its flexible and high all-terrain stabilizers allow the heavy goods truck to move under the crane — and the PCC 115.002 to position the load on the truck’s loading area with pinpoint accuracy and in next to no time.

Special mission in confined spaces

“The area occupied by the crane is the entire area that is firm enough to bear the weight when loading the compressors,” says Mark Drescher. “It is definitely a challenge to accommodate a crane, a heavy goods vehicle, and the machines to be transported in such a small area.” In meeting this challenge, the PALFINGER Crawler Crane again proves that it is a specialist for extraordinary tasks. The compressors from Tegel are now being used for the air conditioning system of the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport. A cost-saving and resource-conserving solution. The crawler crane makes it possible.