Maxim Crane's Tadano CC 78.1250-1

All critical infrastructure has a productive lifecycle. First generating power in 1960, the coal-fired W.H. Sammis Power Station served the Eastern Ohio community of Stratton well over its 60-plus-year lifespan.

It was time to retire 2.2-gigawatt technology for redevelopment into a more modern energy and data center campus that includes large-scale onsite power generation and battery energy storage systems to store renewable energy.

Officially fully decommissioned in 2023, demolition work of the seven power units, five chimneys and multiple baghouses on site is being completed by B&B Wrecking of Cleveland. Most structures are carefully being brought down by a series of controlled implosions, allowing for the use of smaller cranes up to 750-t. crawlers for dismantling and removal.

However, multiple baghouses sit perched atop a tunnel bridge deck running above Ohio Route 7 along the Ohio River. Removal of these structures requires surgical precision to ensure safety.

“This is more of a dismantling than demolition because of the sheer size, weight and stakeholder issues that we could possibly encounter,” explains Bryan Donatelli, onsite project manager for B&B Wrecking. “There's property all around us that is very fragile and important to the infrastructure. We must protect traffic, surrounding power lines, the waterways adjacent to the power station and the rail infrastructure.”

This required the baghouse and other remnants to be cut at height and brought down. Baghouse weight and size — in the 500,000-lb. range — posed a complication and less cutting at height would help to increase safety at the job site. Considering all the factors, the crawlers up to 750-t. class size, supplied by Maxim Crane Works, Wilder, Ky., did not offer the reach or capacity to economically complete lifts of this size.

This meant the heavy lifting solutions provider was missing out on key heavy infrastructure, industrial, girder, wind and steel projects. That was before company officials learned about a new crane design from Tadano that was a great fit for this project.

The Right Fit

“When deciding on new or bigger fleet investments in our crawler fleet, we look at what the industry is doing today, what the demand looks like, what our customers are requesting and how that aligns with our strategy,” said Dan Murray, VP of crawler cranes for Maxim Crane. “Our primary reasons for picking the CC 78.1250-1 were its high capacity, flexibility and easy transport.”

Maxim Crane is a large logistics company, who moves its own equipment. Even though owning the 1,375-t. class, CC 78.1250-1 crane was quite a jump in size; no new trailers were purchased to accommodate crane transport.

“Load and size fit our heavy haul fleet very well,” says Bellcoff. Murray adds, “It fits well into our fleet and meets our customers' needs.”

First in the World Delivery

With the contract secured, Maxim had the crane shipped directly to the W.H. Sammis project site in Stratton. “We started building in early February,” recalls Patrick Steiner, Crane Operator for Maxim Crane. “This was our first experience with the CC 78.”

First experience or not, the crane needed to be assembled efficiently to keep up with the production schedule. “We don't have downtime when prepping pieces, and the schedule is very tight and productive,” advises Donatelli. Steiner adds, “Tadano sent four guys to the site to help, and those guys clearly love what they do. They were very knowledgeable and helpful with crane set up and operation.”

Ease of transport and assembly was clearly an advantage for the CC 78.1250-1. Fitting well within the company's standard transportation fleet, Murray mentions, “There's nothing overweight or over-dimensional that we can't handle. Everything breaks down to a very manageable size and weight, which makes it easy to transport.”

This includes the Boom Booster kit required for the project, which increases crane lift capacity by up to 30 percent.

“Even though it has a 19.7-foot (6 m) width when working,” says Sönke Eichhorn, Service Trainer for Tadano, “it easily folds for transport, so it's not an oversized load.”

Shipping the crane from port directly to the jobsite meant the component order received wasn't exactly how Maxim Crane would do when going from a job or yard. However, this did not result in a delay in crane assembly, and B&B's team was impressed by how quickly it was assembled.

“The way it came in and was laid out was very efficient. Each piece could be fitted the same day or very near in the future,” recalls Donatelli. “They gave us a window for assembly and beat the deadline by almost a week. It was very efficient, especially for model one and the first experience for Maxim and the crane itself.”

Making Picks

The new Tadano CC 78.1250-1 offers up to 687 ft. of main boom. For this project, 243 ft. of main boom was used, along with 157.5 ft. of luffing jib. The crew loaded 230 U.S. t.of main body counterweight plus 22 t. central ballast. The Superlift configuration included 138 ft. of Superlift mast at a radius of 69 ft. with 595 t. counterweight on the Split Tray.

The plan calls for the first pick location to be on one of the former chimney stack foundations. Operators are making 13 picks from this location and then moving to another chimney location for another 13 to 16 picks. A third location will be used for the final baghouse removal.

“So far, the heaviest pick made was approximately 648,000 lb.,” said Steiner. While it doesn't sound like much for the new Tadano crane, “The way we're set up to make the pick, it was at 90 percent capacity, and the crane handled it like it was nothing.”

Maxim Crane projects the CC 78.1250-1 to be on site for roughly six months to dismantle the baghouses, and company officials don't expect the crane to be idle very long.

“We've had a lot of interest and requests around the refining, petrochemical, large-scale projects and large steel projects in all areas of the country,” said Murray. “Adding this crane to our fleet shows that we're taking the steps necessary to adapt to the industry with everything becoming larger and projects becoming bigger. We chose Tadano because of the partnership and collaboration between our two companies.”