It is an ambitious project with lots of superlatives and at the same time the largest single order in the history of the Liebherr Tower Cranes division: The new Istanbul Airport will be the largest airport in the world with around 150 million passengers passing through it every year from 2020. A total of 58 EC-H series cranes will be used to build the "İstanbul Yeni Havalimanı". The first of these tower cranes were delivered recently and will remain installed at the airport until 2018.
The preparations on the 9,000 hectare site 35 kilometres to the north of the centre of Istanbul started in June 2014. A total of six runways and 165 passenger bridges will be built at the new transport hub. According to the plans, the airport building itself will have a roof which stretches over the halls like a gigantic tent. Skylights at various points will provide daylight to the interior.
For the actual building work, the Turkish contractor İGA Havalimanı İşletmesi A.Ş. decided to use tower cranes from Liebherr and therefore awarded the division the largest single order in the history of the company. 32 cranes of the 280 EC-H 12 Litronic type will work with 16 cranes of the 200 EC-H 10 Litronic type and will be supported by a further ten 154 EC-H 6 Litronic models. The Litronic cranes all have precision high performance drive units and an intelligent crane control system. Both ensure a high level of safety for people and material at hook heights of between 30 and 60 metres with maximum load capacities of up to 12 tonnes each.
"The Liebherr Tower Crane Solutions department has specialised in these complex construction projects and was able to score heavily with a low cost solution for this order", says Rüdiger Boeck, Regional Sales Manager for Eastern Europe and the Bosporus at Liebherr-Werk Biberach GmbH. In addition to short delivery times which Liebherr was able to guarantee, the service provided by its local partner, Attila Dural Trading Co. Ltd., were the main reasons for winning the order. "We can guarantee 24/7 service for our cranes in cooperation with our partner", says Rüdiger Boeck. "That is extremely important for these construction projects where every day is vital."