One World Trade Center was opened in Manhattan in 2014. At 1,776 feet high, it is the tallest building in the United States and the main building of the new World Trade Center complex, which once completed will include five skyscrapers. In the summer of 2015, Federated Crane Co, LLC set up a WOLFF 700 B US at Three World Trade Center (3 WTC) on behalf of the responsible steel construction company. The powerful luffing crane is the first WOLFF crane in New York City and convinces with a compact design and modern drive technology.
Construction work on the 3 WTC already started back in 2010 with the building of the foundation and a part of the reinforced concrete inner core, accommodating elevators, staircases, and supply lines. The WOLFF 700 B US, equipped with a 180-foot jib and an additional 16-foot fly-jib, was used for lifting steel columns and girders for the outer shell of the skyscraper. Although a standard construction method in modern high-rise construction, the WOLFFKRAN team was faced with the challenge of having to position the crane extremely close to the inner core. With the construction of the core always several floors higher up than the outer shell, a crane with a very small tail swing was required in order for it to rotate freely. The WOLFF 700 B US, already equipped with a very short counter jib, was therefore specially adapted for this project with an even shorter counter jib of 24 feet, 3 inches. The WOLFF will rise with the building to a height of approximately 980 feet by means of an internal climbing mechanism.
Featured Image: WOLFF territory: Not only have red WOLFF cranes been spotted on American construction sites, WOLFFKRAN also opened its own U.S. branch just outside of Manhattan, which handles the entire spectrum of crane services.
Above: Clean solution: Electrically operated, emission-free cranes like the WOLFF 700 B US are an increasingly popular choice for densely populated city centers in the U.S.
SAFE, EFFICIENT, AND POWERFUL
In addition to its compact construction, the customer opted for the WOLFF 700 B US because of its electric drives paired with high lifting capacities and working speeds. With safety and efficiency regulations for cranes having become considerably stricter in New York City in the recent past, contractors and rental equipment companies are more often opting for modern electric tower cranes rather than the conventional diesel-powered cranes. The WOLFF 700 B US impressively proves that this does not affect the performance of the crane. With a lifting capacity of 116,845 pounds and a line speed of up to 623 ft/min, it is ideally suited for the job on the 3 WTC site, where it has to lift tons of steel and prefabricated components up to 1,150 feet high. It is further equipped with a fly-jib lifting 17,637 pounds and a working speed of up to 459 ft/min.
USA BECOMES WOLFF TERRITORY
With the WOLFF 700 B US in San Francisco and the WOLFF 700 B US at 3 WTC, the premium manufacturer has sent a new generation of efficient electric luffing jib cranes onto U.S. building sites. Customer service, technical support and spare parts are provided by the recently established subsidiary WOLFFKRAN Inc. operating just outside Manhattan. And in virtually no time after the first two WOLFFs have begun to prove themselves on U.S. turf, several WOLFF 355 B luffing cranes are next in line to be used for upcoming projects in the New York metropolitan area.
The first WOLFF in Manhattan: With the construction of the core always several floors higher up than the outer shell of 3 WTC, the WOLFF 700 B US (at the bottom) profits from a very short counter jib enabling it to rotate freely.
ABOUT THE WTC COMPLEX
Three World Trade center is expected to be completed in 2018 at 1,079 feet, making it one of the ten tallest buildings in New York. Construction on Two World Trade Center is also currently ongoing. Already completed are Seven World Trade Center (743 feet), Four World Trade Center (978 feet), and since 2014, One World Trade Center (1,776 feet). The buildings accommodate mainly offices, but also include shops and restaurants. The skyscrapers on the World Trade Center site, referred to as “Ground Zero,” create a frame around the 9/11 Memorial, which was opened in 2011. ■
For More Information: With a tradition of more than 150 years WOLFFKRAN is one of the leading manufacturers and rental companies of high-quality tower cranes in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North America, Australia, and Hong Kong. The worldwide rental fleet comprises more than 750 WOLFF cranes. It is headquartered in Zug (Switzerland) and has manufacturing site in Heilbronn and Luckau (Germany), as well as international subsidiaries and partnerships around the world. It employs a global workforce of approximately 900 people. For more, visit www.wolffkran.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions – January 2016
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First WOLFF in Manhattan
