Conference cranes

Kanson Crane and Heavy Transport has supplied the cranes for Phase III of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

Phase I was built on reclaimed land overlooking the Victoria Harbour in 1988. Its three-sided glass curtain was the world's largest at that time. Phase II, completed in 1997 to coincide with the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, was constructed on a 6.5 hectare island and took 48 months from reclamation to completion.

About 350,000 cubic metres of marine mud was dredged in the reclamation project and replaced with 1.8 million cubic metres of rock and sand. At the same time, seven box-shape structures were built off-site and sunk to the northern seawalls to form the pump houses for the cooling systems and its associated buildings.

On completion, the HKCEC will have almost 45,500 square metres of internal exhibition space, allowing it to compete in the region.

Ray C H Tong, Kanson senior project engineer, explained that the cranes would be lifting parts weighing a total of 25,000 tonnes. "It will reach a height of 80 m and involves individual struts of 20 m in length, weighing up to 180 tonnes each. The plans involve lifting a number of them at one time," Tong explained.

One of the cranes is a 500 tonne capacity Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 wheeled mobile on eight axles with seven-section, 84 m telescopic boom. Kanson is also using a pair of 200 tonne capacity LTM 1200/1 all terrain Liebherrs on the project from its fleet of six units from the German manufacturer. Main contractor Gammon is also using a 280 tonne capacity Liebherr LR 1280 lattice boom crawler crane.