BAUMA 2022: Schmidbauer reinforces heavy lift fleet

Higher, heavier, further: With various investments at BAUMA 2022, the Schmidbauer Group is expanding its fleet: In addition to several telescopic cranes, it is strengthening above all in the area of heavy lifting but is also sending a signal for green technologies with an electrically driven mobile crane. With the new acquisitions, the company will be able to make even more of a difference in the future, especially in the context of the energy transition.

"Being up to date and at the same time looking ahead,"

is how Managing Director Werner Schmidbauer sums up one of the main concerns of Schmidbauer, a company that has been family-run for three generations. This was underlined by the mobile crane and heavy-duty specialist during BAUMA 2022.

Investing in the (heavy lifting) future

At the world's largest trade fair for construction machinery and mining technology in Munich, Schmidbauer set the seal on a mega-deal with Liebherr, among other things: two new crawler cranes, an LR 11350 and an LR 1800-1.0, intended to support the energy transition, as well as four telescopic cranes from 50 to 110 tons lifting capacity, to modernize the fleet. The two long-established companies have thus reaffirmed their long-standing and trusting cooperation.

From Tadano, one of the largest manufacturers of hydraulic cranes, Schmidbauer received a Tadano GTC-2000 – the largest telescopic crawler crane in the Schmidbauer fleet to date, with a lifting capacity of 200 tons. The crane can be operated with synthetic fuel with low emissions and is therefore climate and environmentally friendly. The Spierings SK597-AT4 eLift, which Schmidbauer also purchased, and which was on display at the Spierings booth, matches this direction. The electrically powered mobile crane belongs to the latest generation of mobile hydraulic tower cranes – which reflected the thematic focus of this year's BAUMA.

All of these purchases are part of a plan for continuous modernization – Schmidbauer understands this to mean two things:

"For us, keeping up with the times means not only having a modern fleet of vehicles, but also tackling promising projects, especially those that promote the energy transition."

Schmidbauer is thus targeting future heavy lift projects in particular.

Furthermore, the visitors were able to get an impression of the TAT-B 180 of the subsidiary Fricke-Schmidbauer at the company Zandt cargo: a low-loader trailer in the tandem version. The ZANDT cargo TAT-B 180 has been comprehensively and practically equipped regarding load securing and ergonomics for the drivers. In addition, the overall lengths for the large cranes mounted on trucks are also complied with and ensure flexible use in dispatching. Palfinger was also visited. The international technology and engineering company is the world's leading producer and supplier of innovative crane and lifting solutions and, like Schmidbauer, is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.

In addition to the investments and equipment on display, Schmidbauer was of course also involved in the erection and dismantling of BAUMA: On average, 18 pieces of equipment were on site every day for more than four weeks – on peak days even up to 24 cranes, with lifting capacities of 40 to 500 tons.

Heavy Lift – Heavyweight class of crane industry

For several years, Schmidbauer has been helping to ensure that the energy turnaround can succeed technically. The company is one of the pioneers in the field of wind energy. The installation of wind turbines remains challenging to this day – wind turbine components are getting heavier and larger and the towers are getting taller. Schmidbauer has accompanied the development from the very beginning. Each construction site, each location requires individual solutions, and the dimensions are often unimaginable for laymen. A good example is provided by a project in Sweden: A huge wind farm is being built over a length of 70 kilometers in the Västernorrlands region of the country. Schmidbauer has stationed two crawler cranes on site to lift the plant components: The two Demag CC 3800-1s, each with a lifting capacity of 650 tons, erect wind turbines with a hub height of up to 165 meters.

The newly ordered LR 11350 and LR 1800-1.0 models are investments in the realization of the energy revolution – the focus is on wind energy, both onshore and offshore. For the LR 11350, the first destination is the Côte d'Azur. There, the Provence Grand Large offshore wind farm is being built off the coast of
Fos-sur-Mer in the Marseille area. The special feature: the wind turbines will be mounted on floating platforms.

"To tackle projects of this magnitude, you need tremendous equipment. Intelligent engineering for solution concepts with flexibility is at least as important. The heavier the components become, the harder it is to be flexible. This is exactly where we see our performance plus,"

says Stefan Schmidbauer, Managing Director and Head of the Heavy Lifting division. In addition to projects in connection with wind turbines, the new crawler cranes are also suitable for heavy-duty applications such as bridge and industrial assembly or port handling, as well as projects in the petrochemical industry.

Large fleet and performance plus as a successful combination

"In the field of heavy lifting, equipment, engineering and experience have to work together perfectly,"

emphasizes Stefan Schmidbauer. Practice has proven that this 360° approach works. On behalf of Bayernoil, the Schmidbauer team transported two huge reactors with a total weight of 880 tons in 2021 – never before had a greater weight been transported by road in Germany. The vehicles used in this record-breaking undertaking included a CC 8800-1 crawler crane and two self-propelled SPMTs, each with 2 x 22 axles, from the Schmidbauer fleet.

Projects of this magnitude are to be further expanded in the future as part of the corporate strategy and with modernization and upgrading of the large crane fleet - also internationally.