The Australia-based heavy lift tower crane specialist, Marr Contracting, has completed a world-record lift during construction of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey.

The record-breaking construction feat saw one of Marr’s M2480D Heavy Lift Luffers (HLL) – which with a lifting capacity of 330 tonnes is the world’s largest capacity tower crane – undertake the world’s heaviest (155 tonnes) at height (318 m) craneage lift on what will be the world’s longest span suspension bridge.

With the M2480D crane perched 328 metres above the water, it took approximately 30 minutes to lift a 155-tonne piece of the upper cross beam (UCB) to its position 318 metres above sea level, said the statement from Marr Contracting.

The installation of the centre section of the UCB on the Asian side of the Çanakkale Strait, completed a major milestone in the construction of the bridge, with the lift taking place at midnight on June 7.

The European side was completed 24 hours later, with the final centrepieces installed on both sides of the Bridge at a final height of 318 m.

The engineering solution that made the world-record lift possible was one of the reasons DLSY (Daelim – Limak – SK E&C – Yapi Merkezi) Joint Venture awarded the craneage contract to Marr Contracting International in 2017 after a competitive tender process including some of the world’s leading craneage companies.

Impressed by Marr’s track record in designing and delivering innovative lifting solutions on similarly challenging large-scale projects in Australia and around the world, DLSY joint venture challenged the Marr team to develop a strategy that would decrease construction time and associated risk. The Marr team worked with the DLSY project team to develop a craneage methodology that makes use of the M2480D HLL crane’s capacity to lift heavier modularised components instead of the more traditional approach of lifting smaller components one-by-one and then welding on-site. Two of Marr’s M2480D cranes have been on-site since last year constructing the bridge’s 318-metre high towers, and through fewer lifts of larger pieces the craneage solution has reduced the construction schedule, with less site-based activities and a higher level of on-site safety.

Deputy Project Manager, Alper Alemdaroglu said the DLSY joint venture wanted a heavy lifting partner who could think outside-the-box to make their vision for how they wanted to build the bridge into reality. “The Men From Marr’s have a reputation for technical competence and innovative thinking in developing strategies for heavy lifting on projects of this scale, but what has impressed us most is their collaborative approach to finding a solution that suited our construction methodology and programme, and then delivering it,” remarked Alemdaroglu.

Highlighting the key relationship and alignment between Marr and the joint venture partners, Marr Contracting Managing Director, Simon Marr, said: "DLSY knew what they wanted, and they were also open to a non-traditional heavy lifting solution. As experts in construction, the JV partners respected our expertise in heavy lifting and together we have been able to construct the tower stage of the project in record time."

 "The unparalleled lifting capacity of our M2480D HLL cranes have been a game changer for this project and will potentially change the way our industry looks at how bridges can be built, as well as a host of other large-scale projects," remarked Marr.

In November last year, after being fully assembled at a dry dock, two of Marr’s M2480D HLL cranes were lifted as complete units, each weighing 600 tonnes, by a floating crane and transported a kilometre to the bridge tower caisson in the middle of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Strait), where they were successfully installed in a one day operation.

CEO of the joint-stock company established by the Turkish-Korean consortium, Mustafa Tanriverdi, said: "The four joint venture partner companies (Limak and Yapi Merkezi from Turkey, Daelim and SK E&C from South Korea) are contributing to the project by allocating their particular technical expertise acquired from working on diverse projects across the world to all phases of the project.".