Arrival of Australia’s first Manitowoc MLC650 Crawler Crane

Tutt Bryant Heavy Lift & Shift is pleased to announce the arrival of the new Manitowoc MLC650 to its fleet of cranes. Featuring the new Manitowoc Variable Position Counterweight (VPC ™) system, the 700t crane is the first of its type commissioned and available for operational use in Australia.

The VPC ™ system enables the counterweight to adjust further back as the crane approaches full capacity. This allows for faster lifting times, less configuration changes than standard hanging superlift and far greater flexibility on site. Ground compaction required is also significantly reduced by up to 90% on comparable wheeled car/bogey cranes.

TBHLS General Manager Rob West said “the incredible flexibility of this crane makes it a game changer in the industry. The reduction in relocation and reconfiguration time will make this crane the stand out choice for any site. Where changes in configuration or location are required, any other option typically becomes more costly in both time and support resources. As we well know, Superlift cranes constantly need reconfiguration of counterweights which in turn require support cranes, elevated work platforms and the occupying of crew members for sometimes up to 6 hours. The beauty of the MLC650 is that it can be configured once, and then stay built on an even site. The propensity for savings we calculated onsite with a client accounted to over 3 weeks less on a 5 month program. You can imagine the additional savings that also provides in labour and ancillary costs”.

The MLC650 has commenced its first job at Australian Marine Complex, Henderson, W.A.