Skip to main content

Project underway for Chinese bridge

Potain tower cranes are being used to construct a major cable-stayed bridge in China. The conditions are tough and feature high winds and monsoon conditions, with the cranes working at an altitude of 1,500m above sea level in a mountain range in southern China to build the Duge Beipanjiang Bridge, which will span 720m when it is complete The job is requiring six Potain tower cranes in total during the course of the US$92.75 million (570 million RMB) project. Two cranes have been erected at the job site a
May 15, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
The cranes are having to contend with tough operating conditions
Potain tower cranes are being used to construct a major cable-stayed bridge in China. The conditions are tough and feature high winds and monsoon conditions, with the cranes working at an altitude of 1,500m above sea level in a mountain range in southern China to build the Duge Beipanjiang Bridge, which will Span 720m when it is complete

The job is requiring six 5916 Potain tower cranes in Total during the course of the US$92.75 million (570 million RMB) project. Two cranes have been erected at the job site and are working on the bridge’s main pylons on either side of the Beipanjiang Canyon. The four other Potain cranes are due to be installed over the coming months and all of the cranes will work at the site for four years. The cranes will climb to final working heights of up to 290m to complete the project.
Liupanshui Shengsheng Construction Equipment Leasing owns the Potain MCT 370 cranes. The Potain cranes at the Duge Beipanjiang Bridge project were transported more than 2,000km from Potain’s facility in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, to the job site, much of it along narrow and winding roads. Now, the equipment has to cope with the monsoon climate, which fluctuates from freezing temperatures, high winds and snow through to drought and dust storms. Operations for the cranes run 14 hours a day, every day, with both required to lift construction materials and equipment in loads of up to 20tonnes. The bridge’s pylons will measure 269m and 247m in height, so to contend with such high lifting heights the cranes are fitted with winches that enable them to lift 17tonne loads up to 270m high.

The Potain MCT 370 is built at Potain’s facility in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, China. The maximum jib length is 75m while 2.7tonnes can be lifted at the jib end. The MCT 370 has a maximum free-standing height of more than 64m.

Duge Beipanjiang Bridge will Span across the Beipanjiang Canyon at the boundary of Yunnan Province and Guizhou Province. Total length for the bridge will be 1,340m and having started in 2012, work is expected to complete in 2016. Main contractor in charge of the build is Second Harbour Engineering Company, a subsidiary of the Fortune 500-listed 2661 China Communications Construction Company. In addition to the bridge the company is building a 3.4km section of the Bidu Expressway, which includes three tunnels and seven bridges.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Building the diamond road in Lesotho
    April 6, 2016
    A job site in the Southern African nation of Lesotho represents one of the most extreme and challenging projects to some key Italian firms of the last 10 years. The project was certainly different from the norm It involves building a road in the Lesotho Mountains, some 200km from the capital Maseru, with the work being carried out by the Cooperative of Building and Cement workers from Ravenna (CMC). CMC, which has ranked among Marini's clients for many years now, is involved in the construction of a
  • Tricky mountain road rebuild job in Phoenix AZ
    June 16, 2021
    North Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona is one of the metropolitan area’s most recognisable landmarks and busiest hiking destinations.
  • Terex Superlift 3800 crane rises to the challenge in Alsace
    May 14, 2015
    Crane service provider Sarens has used a Terex Superlift 3800 lattice boom crawler crane to lift a pedestrian and bicycle steel bridge over the A4 Autoroute near Schiltigheim, in the Aisace region of France. The job was out of the ordinary, according to the Sarens Group, a transport and specialised rigging specialist based in Wolvertem, Belgium. “We didn’t have a special permit for a heavy-load transport with the required weight,” said Sarens project manager Joost Elsen.
  • Manitowoc’s in demand in Oz
    May 14, 2014
    Leading Australian crane rental firm Universal Cranes has built two bridges using Manitowoc cranes from its fleet. The company used Manitowoc’s largest all-terrain crane, a GMK7450, for the first job and selected two Manitowoc crawler cranes – a 16000 and a 12000 - for the second. Key to the speed of the two projects was the cranes’ quick set-up and precise load control, as well as Universal Cranes’s specially-designed lattice spreader, as Nick Morris, engineering and sales manager at Universal Cranes, e