Moving silos in Düsseldorf

Date: October / November 2008

Equipment used: 6 mobile cranes ranging from 40 - 400 ton, mobile wheeled crane, 4 ton fork-lift truck (H-117), 16 ton fork-lift truck (H-115), material container (C-76), scissor lift, telescopic articulated platform to 45 metres, various auxiliary equipment such as cutter, grab, hammer, site fencing, dock boards, etc.

Special features: dimension and weight of the silos and steel structure. High-level working with a very restricted work space.

For our client, who specialises in laundry care and household cleaner, we demolished one silo and a steel structure and moved three other silos, including the silo landings, to a new location on the site. The demolition work had to be undertaken first, before being able to make a start on moving the three other silos.

To limit the impact on the production process as much as possible, various teams had to work in shifts within a very short timeframe. To move the silos, which had a cross-section of 6.3 metres, a length of approximately 25 metres and a weight of 53 tons, two cranes were used to lift them horizontally through the air over a pipe bridge. Our sub-contractor undertook a range of welding work for this, such as fixing lifting eyes to the silos and making a new steel structure.

The old steel structure had to be moved in two sections due to its enormous size (26 metres long, 8.5 metres high and 7 metres wide). There was little space for dismantling work. A wide range of equipment had to be used to remove the 52 ton colossus from its former location. The work went very smoothly due to the excellent collaboration between the client and the sub-contractors and the combined forces of the entire DDM organisation.