In early 2016, Mulzer Crushed Stone ordered an E-Crane which will be mounted on a deck barge. The E-Crane has a maximum duty cycle capacity of 16.5 t (18.2 short tons) and a maximum outreach of 26.4 m (86.5 ft). This is a flexible mobile floating offloading platform that allows barge unloading to a shore mounted hopper, floating hopper or direct to trucks depending on the product and location. The floating rig incorporates the latest design for spud operation, barge haul winches and power distribution.The series 1500B / Model 11264, is the third E-Crane purchased by Mulzer since 2011. Their first E-Crane was also a barge mounted 1500 Series / Model 11264 for handling aggregate. They were very pleased with the installation and successful performance of this E-Crane.Kevin Fulkerson, Equipment Superintendent at Mulzer comments: “I work with a lot of contractors that talk a good talk but cannot perform in the field. We have been very impressed with the E-Crane service technicians. They are very organized, communicate well, have a sense of urgency, and know their job. It’s nice to work with a company whose service has been excellent from beginning to end.“In 2014, Mulzer ordered a second machine, a smaller EH900 series E-Crane / Model 8248. This machine has a capacity of 13.6 t (15.0 short tons) and a maximum outreach of 24.8 m (81.5 ft) and is also for moving aggregate from barge to hopper. This machine has also been performing well since its installation in 2015.Mulzer has realized the benefits of the E-Crane floating solution, and E-Crane is happy to have them as a repeat customer.
Benefits of Barge Mounting
The E-Crane balanced design makes it ideal for barge mounting. The E-Crane design is based on a parallelogram style boom which provides a direct mechanical connection between the counterweight and the load. This unique four bar mechanism ensures that the E-Crane remains in a near perfectly balanced state throughout its entire working range. While conventional cranes use as much as 80% of their available energy just to move the boom, stick, and grab, the E-Crane allows gravity to work for you instead of against you, reducing horsepower requirements and power consumption by up to 50% and significantly reducing maintenance and operating costs.Along with the significant energy savings that a balanced design provides, it makes the E-Crane ideal for mounting on a floating barge. Because the crane is balanced, the movement of the E-Crane causes very minimal listing and movement of the barge.A barge mounted crane is also beneficial because it floats up and down along with the material carrying barges when the water elevation changes. This means that the cycle of picking material out of the barge is never affected by water fluctuation.
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