The Army's new cranes

By SGT AJ Palmer

The Army has taken delivery of the last four of ten Palletised Knuckle Boom Cranes. This marks the end of an acquisition project which has been some seven years in the making. Six of the cranes are fitted with a winch, and will be operated by Royal New Zealand Army Logistics Regiment (RNZALR) Maintenance Support personnel, to support the NZLAV in the field.

RNZALR MS pers with the civilian contractors, and equipment trainers, L-R, front, Mr Geoff Walsh (Transport Technology) Stefano Auguanno (EFFER) Rex Wilson (Mimico) Stefan de Silver (Crane Sales NZ LTD) Ron McPherson (Assessing And Training LTD) Sgt Palmer, LCPL Mockford, Sgt Palatchie, middle, SGT Rosewarne, SGT Hilliard, LCPL Feraru, back, SGT Eriha, CPL Taylor (AW-10-0823-1).

The cranes can lift a fully armoured turret or a powerpack each weighing in excess of 2200kg and 1200kg respectively.

Four cranes without winch will allow RNZALR distribution personnel to load and shift palletised stores in the field. This has currently been done by hand when supporting NZLAV.

The Army's capital acquisitions project manager, Major Theo Alexopoulos, said the acquisition provided a vital capability to enable soldiers to better support the NZLAV in the field. "Responsive equipment care is vital to the success of the commander's mission - the crane will allow key maintenance activities to be performed in the field faster and more safely. It is important to acknowledge the hard work and dedication made by Trade Training School and DLEM staff. Through their collaborative efforts with local industry they helped to deliver an exceptional capability that will be with us for some time."

The cranes are built on a purpose built pallet which twistlocks on the U1700L Unimog or MB2228 truck. They are completely self-contained with their own Yanmar diesel powerpack that runs three different hydraulic circuits each controlling crane installation, stabiliser legs, and crane operation. When not in use, the cranes lie flat centrally on the back of a Unimog 1700L for balanced weight distribution. When required for lifting, they slides backwards and stand up on the pallet towards the rear of the vehicle in one continuous motion.

The ten Italian built EFFER 165 cranes were supplied by Crane Sales (NZ) Ltd, who also involved New Zealand companies in building them: Mimico, Transport Technology Ltd, Matamata Panel Works, Juno Engineering and Power Hydraulics LTD.

Eight RNZALR personnel received Initial operator/maintainer training in late May 10. This included operator and assessment training from Ron McPherson, Assessing and Training Ltd and maintenance instruction from EFFER crane hydraulics specialist Stefano Auguanno from Italy. Other companies involved offered students overviews of build and design process, paint protection systems, powerpack and minor hydraulic circuit systems. The students absorbed instruction enthusiastically, and gained the knowledge to operate and repair the cranes.

Future operator courses will be delivered to operators at unit level, and maintenance instruction will be embedded in future MS courses at Trade Training School in Trentham.

This story is an excerpt from Army News, issue 412, August 2010.