New Link-Belt crane and luffing attachment keeps juice from getting loose in Florida

CLEWISTON, Fla. (February 2001) — Tropicana orange juice processing and storage facilities in Fort Pierce and Clewiston are in the midst of a major expansion of their facilities. With the help of two new Link-Belt 150-ton lattice boom cranes, an LS-238H lattice boom crawler crane equipped with the all new luffing attachment, and the recently introduced HC-238H II lattice boom truck crane, the project is expected to be completed on time.

The contractor, Florida Atlantic, is renting the two machines to fabricate refrigerated buildings to enclose 16 new orange juice storage tanks at the Fort Pierce facility and four at the Clewiston facility. Ft. Pierce currently has 52 tanks and Clewiston has 50. Each building will cover a 120-foot by 120-foot footprint and enclose four, 53.5-foot diameter by 68-foot high storage tanks. Each tank stores up to 1.2 million gallons each of Florida’s finest. Each building will be fully insulated to ensure the temperature of the juice is maintained at a constant 34-degrees Fahrenheit.

Just how many oranges does it take to fill a 1.2 million-gallon storage tank? Well, if it takes a 90-pound box (approximately 160 pieces) of oranges to produce six and a half gallons of orange juice. In order to fill one storage tank, it takes 29.5 million oranges. Multiply that by the number of tanks the Ft. Pierce facility will have after the expansion project, 68, and you will find that it will take 1.5 billion oranges to fill all the tanks with orange juice at the Ft. Pierce facility alone.

Working room was very limited on both jobs. The lay down yard was a bit closer for the HC-238H II equipped with conventional boom. The HC-238H II truck crane had slightly more maneuvering room than the crawler crane in the tighter working conditions.

"The crawler crane on the Ft. Pierce project had to reach further, around, behind and over many more tanks with approximately the same loads. We felt that this could be done safer with a luffer because of the size of the tanks we had to maneuver around,” said Steve Zeiger, president of Zeiger Crane Rental Co.

The tanks themselves rest on 3-feet thick reinforced concrete slabs with approximately 6-feet of spacing between each tank. It is in this space that the structural steel erector, Florida Atlantic, is setting the steel, including the large panels, with the two Link-Belt cranes. Seventy feet high by 20 feet wide fabricated anchor panels are assembled on the ground and then lifted in place. These are made from 14-inch I-beams. Each anchor panel weighs up to 18,000 pounds and is placed in strategic locations to fortify the columns and bracing. These will support the walls and roofs of the new insulated buildings. It will take the contractor’s eight-man crew approximately four weeks to erect the 10-panels necessary to create the skeleton for each building.

The Link-Belt cranes’ reach, precision, accuracy and sensitivity are called for constantly. Line and boom hoist speeds are also important assets. The steel is often being placed out beyond the direct vision of the crane operator, with only a six-foot space to maneuver between tanks. Precise control of the load is critical.

Ron Luke is the operator of the Link-Belt LS-238H crawler crane with the luffing boom attachment. The crane is outfitted with a 90-foot luffing boom and a 140-foot luffing jib. The luffing boom can boom down to 65 degrees with a working radius that can reach well over 200 feet.

“With the luffing rig I can sit closer to the tank foundations and consequently still reach out safely to position the steel. I’m not certain how we could do it otherwise,” said Luke.

Single lift load weights on the steel at the Clewiston site range from about one thousand pounds to 16,000 to 17,000 pounds (large structural panels). Jay Stuart is the operator of the Link-Belt HC-238H II truck crane with 200 feet of boom. The structural support steel is erected outside of and then threaded in between the tanks. Exterior walls and the roof will be added later. The tank fabricators are on scaffolding applying special epoxy paint to the tank exteriors as the structural steel is being put in place.

"Our cranes never leave this yard without one of our operators on it. We are very proud of our cranes; we maintain them in like new condition. In fact, if the operator wants wax or other non-traditional maintenance supplies, we are more than happy to pay for it. We work in a very hostile environment in Florida, in addition to the sun and salt air, there is sand everywhere you go in this state. And, as everyone knows, sand and heavy equipment do not mix. On the other hand, the demand for orange juice is very good for the health of our business," concluded Steve Zeiger.