Typical single-girder overhead cranes (yellow) with a double-girder machine (orange) seen in Condra’s Johannesburg factory
Condra’s subsidiaries in Bulgaria and Chile have secured orders for five cranes in recent weeks, with applications ranging from hydroelectric turbine maintenance to furnace management duty.
Manufacture of the first machine, a 70/10-ton double-girder electric overhead travelling high-lift crane for a hydroelectric power station in Chile, began mid-April, with production of three further cranes just beginning. Production of the fifth order, only just received, has yet to be scheduled.
Condra’s authorised distributor in Chile, Mantex, took the order for the 70/10-ton high-lift machine. Valued at 200 000 US dollars, the crane will be used for hydroelectric turbine maintenance after delivery to customer Besalco, a construction and energy concern. Manufacture is taking place at Condra’s Johannesburg factory for shipping at the end of June, while Mantex is preparing to oversee installation and commissioning the following month.
The crane features dual operating levels (16,7 metres on the 70-ton main lift and 7,8 metres on the 10-ton auxiliary lift), frequency drives throughout the long- and cross-travels and both hoists, full-length walkways, a ramshorn bottom block on the main lift, a stairwell and the option of control by pendant or radio remote.
Remarkably, the entire machine will ship in a single 12-metre container owing to an innovative crab design that allocates individual frames to each of the main and auxiliary hoists, instead of mounting both atop a single crab frame. With the two crabs pinned together to form a train, the overall dimensions of the main hoist will be sufficiently reduced to enable all components of the dissembled crane to fit into a single container, with the girders packed on their sides and the two crab units inserted above them.
For similar reasons, the end-carriage mountings were designed to deliver a useful girder length 65 centimetres longer than the actual crane span.
Three single-girder Condra overhead cranes installed in a Bulgarian fabrication plant. Condra Bulgaria has in recent weeks taken orders for four similar machines.
On the other side of the globe, Condra Bulgaria has taken orders for three single-girder cranes: a 5-ton machine for the stores area of engineering company Yotov, in the city of Razgrad, and two machines with capacities of 5-tons and 3,2-tons for furnace work at the heat treatment plant of Bulgarian steel trading company Metal Group Elite.
There are heat shields on the bottom blocks and motors of the Metal Group cranes to allow operation within the furnace environment.
Spans of the three cranes range between 11 and 13,8 metres.
An order for a fourth crane, a 10-ton unit for an undisclosed customer, was received in early April, while an order for a further fifth crane is anticipated soon.
Manufacture of these cranes is to be divided between Bulgaria and South Africa. Hoists and end-carriages will be manufactured at Condra’s main works in Johannesburg, while the steel structures, crane electrification, installation and service will be provided by the Bulgarian works in the city of Gabrovo.
The recent successes in Bulgaria are attributed to lower overall lifetime costs offered by the Condra product range. The company is now aiming for similar success in Serbia, Romania and Montenegro as cost advantages becomes better known across this European region.
