LAPRAIRIE CRANE ACHIEVES MAJOR MILESTONE
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta – November 12, 2009
LAPRAIRIE CRANE is delighted to announce a major milestone in its history which was achieved on October 16, 2009 with its biggest engineered lift to date. LAPRAIRIE CRANE successfully lifted two evaporator towers at the Algar Oil Sands Project (“Algar”) construction site in Northeast Alberta, the larger weighing over 476,000 pounds and standing 143 feet tall.
Algar is owned by Connacher Oil and Gas Limited (“Connacher”), a Calgary-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. The evaporator towers will form core elements of the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) thermal recovery scheme at Algar, which constitutes part of the Great Divide Oil Sands Development Project (“Great Divide”) and is located approximately 80 kilometers south of Fort McMurray. LAPRAIRIE CRANE secured the contract to provide lift services to Connacher throughout Algar construction, having successfully completed Pod (Phase) One at Great Divide.
The landmark lift involved three of LAPRAIRIE’s crawler cranes, each equipped with advanced Load Moment Indicator (LMI) computer technology. The lead crane, a Manitowoc 16000 with MAX-ER®, was balanced with counterweights of 335,000 pounds to provide lift capacity of 630,000 pounds. A 235 Ton Manitowoc 888 rigged for a lift capacity of 290,000 pounds, and a 200 Ton Kobelco rigged for a lift capacity of 230,000 pounds, were used for tailing the load.
As well as being LAPRAIRIE CRANE’s biggest lift to date, the occasion also marked the company’s first use of its MAX-ER® heavy lift attachment. The already-complex task was further complicated by a unique rigging configuration, and the sheer scale of the lift meant that maintaining precise tailing crane balance on the load was paramount to its success.
Rising to the challenges, and following a year-long planning and engineered lift certification process, hoisting of the vessels was successfully completed in six hours. Completion was on-time and on-budget and solidifies LAPRAIRIE CRANE’s place as one of a small number of crane companies who can deliver this highly specialized service to clients.
Rob McNeill, Project Manager for Connacher, was delighted with a job well done. “This was the most complex engineered lift that Connacher has ever undertaken, and LAPRAIRIE CRANE’s execution was perfect. Everything went exactly as planned.”
LAPRAIRIE CRANE’s VP of Operations, Reagan LaPrairie, was also delighted with the accomplishment. “Successful completion of this lift was dependent on effective communication and cooperation between people from many fields of expertise. It also puts LAPRAIRIE CRANE in the exclusive club of crane companies who have the skills to deliver on such a big job.”
LAPRAIRIE CRANE’s team of fifteen was overseen by Reagan LaPrairie and Warren Wiebe, Manager of Operations for the Wood Buffalo region. While Reagan played a pivotal role in the planning aspects of the job, he was quick to praise Warren and his team for a job well done. “I am proud of our guys for completing this job efficiently and safely. Special thanks are due to Warren for his ongoing dedication and attention to detail in planning, which are critical for making our jobs a success in the field.”
Operating the crawler cranes were Red Seal crane operators Adam Griffin (Manitowoc 16000), Steve Dion (200 Ton Kobelco) and Todd Kunz (235 Ton 888 Manitowoc). The 80 Ton Krupp man basket crane was operated by third year apprentice, Ryan LaPrairie. The operating team was supported by riggers Derek Wilson, Kristle O’Brien and Isiah Billard, and heavy haulers Richard Acres, Darrel Estabrooks, Dave Schultz, Jason Urness and Alec Dion. Barry Langford, Manager of Grimshaw Operations, acted as the lift’s observer and safety watch.
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