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Modulift Spreader Beam Raises Chimney in Tandem Lift

Screenshot 2024 01 15 At 15.51.22

In February 2022, Baltic mobile crane rental company Strele Logistics supplied lifting and rigging equipment for a construction project in Kaunas, Lithuania. The equipment – including a Modulift spreader beam – would be used to install a 49t chimney on a biological waste treatment facility.

How was the lift carried out?

Strele agreed to transport the 35m-long, 2.75m-diameter pipe from its place of manufacturing, Enerstena Group’s facility, to its final location 3km away.

The pipe was first loaded onto a semi-trailer (a trailer without a front axle) using a 90t Faun ATF90G-4 mobile crane, as well as the two 15t capacity overhead cranes already installed in the building. Haulage firm Klaipedos Transekspedicija took care of overnight transportation to the jobsite.

The following morning, a 500t-capacity Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 and a 200t-capacity Terex AC200 worked in tandem to install the chimney onto the facility, with the latter machine being used for tailing.

Below the hook of the Liebherr, a 3m-long MOD 70 beam was used to accommodate rigging points on the outside of the chimney.

Jokūbas Slavinskas, project manager at Strele, explained that they initially considered using a second spreader beam with the Terex, but eventually opted for synthetic slings instead. In total, four 10m-long roundslings, four 7m-long steel cables, two 25t shackles, two 55t shackles, and two 85t shackles (the last four were connected to the spreader beam) combined to complete the lift.

Slavinskas said: “The steel cables were rigged on the rigging loops of the chimney. We could not use synthetic slings alone because the friction force could have burnt them during the erection process. The tandem lift was the most reliable option. There were alternatives, but they were economically and logistically inferior.”

He also recalled the lifting process, noting how the Terex crane tailed the chimney to the position of 15m from the Liebherr to the centre of the pipe. Then the main crane lifted the chimney alone and mounted it on the foundation. The only problem to overcome was turning the truck transporting the chimney 90 degrees, which required some of the site’s waste pile to be cleared away.

He added: “The lifting process took no more than three hours. It took more time to assemble the main crane (four hours) and then to disassemble it (four hours, again). While there was only one lift involved in this project, Strele has completed hundreds of projects of this kind. One peculiarity was that chimneys are more commonly erected in multiple pieces of, say, 20m in length.”

How well did Modulift’s spreader beam perform?

The MOD 70 spreader beam can lift up to 70t at 10.5m and up to 14m or at a lower capacity. Slavinskas remarked of it: “It performed well; it offered us what we needed and it was delivered in a timely fashion. Actually, we took the job without having the appropriate beam in stock, although we were already in contact with Modulift and were able to accelerate the buying process.

The lift will live long in the memory, as the day after [16 February] was a national celebration to mark 100 years of Lithuania’s independence. We were lucky the beam arrived in time so we avoided working on such an important day for the country.”

At Modulift, we supply heavy-duty spreader beams and frames to projects around the world.

Combining premium build quality with an innovative modular design, our equipment can be relied on for any lifting application. Whatever your requirements, we will work with you to design a custom rig for your project that performs exactly as you need it to.


At Modulift, we supply heavy-duty spreader beams and frames to projects around the world.

Combining premium build quality with an innovative modular design, our equipment can be relied on for any lifting application. Whatever your requirements, we will work with you to design a custom rig for your project that performs exactly as you need it to.

Make an enquiry online or call us on 01202 621511 to get started.