Actros with large crane – the Application Information Centre presents the combination of a Hiab crane and a Mercedes-Benz Trucks
Service
The Application Information Centre (BIC) and crane manufacturer Hiab have put a three-axle Actros equipped with a large crane into operation. The duo is proving its capabilities to Hiab partners on site.
Not just looking, but lifting too. In the port of Leer, Lars Merx stages a demonstration for Captain Claas-H. Braitsch, to show what the Actros with Hiab loading crane can do.
Lars Merx starts the OM 471 and extends the supports using the remote control. The Actros 2545 with HIAB X-HiPro 558 crane in arctic white is ready for the presentation. Normally a vehicle like this would be presented at the Application Information Center (BIC) at the Wörth plant. Today, however, the Actros had a quite different destination. It was the port of the East Frisian town of Leer. This was made possible through the close cooperation between the Application Information Center and Hiab Germany. With a roadshow, they are going together to the German sales locations of a body manufacturer to give an on-site demonstration of a BIC vehicle.
When it comes to cranes, Martin Krug, Managing Director of Schröder Fahrzeugtechnik, relies on the Hiab range, while Lars Merx provides customer advice for the brand. For many years he was on the road as a service technician for cranes all over the world. This experience helps him to find bespoke solutions for the customer. “With the Actros we drive directly to our customers and show them what the technology can do,” says the trained crane builder.
Today, Lars Merx has an appointment with Captain Claas-H. Braitsch, founder of Maritime Service & Transport Braitsch (MST), based in Leer. In more than 30 years, this specialist for maritime transport solutions has taken heavy transports and deliveries to the most remote ports and has only one goal: to make it possible.
Always new loading and unloading locations.
“We deliver ship spare parts and other maritime equipment and spare parts directly to the quay wall,” says Captain Braitsch, while he examines and assesses the black crane superstructure. Procuring and assembling the most varied shipments is his daily business: “Loads and loading sites differ greatly.”
“The customer should experience how the crane works with his individual load,” says Merx, while he manoeuvres on the MST yard, following the instructions of the boss himself.
Weaving its way among all the containers, the Actros shows off the advantage of its steered trailing axle: Merx can position it precisely even in the most confined spaces. The body is also designed for restricted space. Even when the supports are not fully extended, there is no danger of it toppling over. A safety system on the crane calculates the stability on the basis of the position of the supports and the total vehicle weight, limiting the load if necessary.
“The best way to find the right solution is to test the vehicles in real operation.”
— Captain Claas-H. Braitsch, owner of Maritime
Service & Transport
Time to carry on. At the port Braitsch has a so-called container flat – a base plate with container fastenings – loaded with coils of steel cables; this plate has to be lifted onto a pontoon.
MST regularly delivers flats like this one to operators of offshore energy plants. Emden and Leer are becoming increasingly important as supply ports for the energy industry. However, a stationary crane is still far from being available everywhere, so that a mobile solution is often necessary.
The crane's supports brace against the tarmac. The boom slowly lifts the cables. The crane gets its power from the power take-off from the Actros's OM 471 engine.
A principle that has its origin at Hiab: around 80 years ago in Hudiksvall, Sweden, Eric Sundin developed the first hydraulically-operated crane driven directly by the truck engine.
Around 500,000 cranes.
Today there are around 500,000 Hiab loading cranes in operation in some 120 countries. In Germany, Mercedes-Benz is the largest base vehicle manufacturer for the crane producer in terms of numbers. This makes trucks with the three-pointed star one of the most important partners for the company.
Thanks to the data provided by Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Hiab can prepare the cranes and frame parts in such a way that they can be mounted on the base vehicle in a comparatively short time. Frameworks is what Hiab calls this principle, with which the set-up time can be reduced to as little as 50 percent.
Together, the BIC and Hiab also organise customer events, instructions on product innovations and dealer conferences in Wörth. A selection of vehicles with Hiab loading cranes is available in the Application Information Centre.
The joint organisation of the roadshow for the white Actros is the latest example of the close cooperation between the two companies.
Photos: Sebastian Vollmert
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