Highly complex: BKL completes a breathtaking five-crane lift.

Munich, 22 July 2025 – BKL Baukran Logistik GmbH rolled out its fleet of powerhouses to assemble the new trimodal gantry crane used for container transshipment in the west of Frankfurt. The crane specialist devised an ingenious lift concept involving five mobile cranes ranging from 230 to 450 tonnes. The special placement of the cranes allowed port and rail operations to continue without restriction during the project to the complete satisfaction of the customer.

As part of the expansion of its container terminal, Contargo Industriepark Frankfurt-Höchst GmbH had commissioned a new single-beam bridge gantry crane. Austrian manufacturer Künz GmbH contracted BKL’s crane experts to carry out the lift of the individual components of the enormous gantry crane, weighing a total of 360 tonnes. Altogether, the dramatic heavy lift project required five telescopic cranes of different classes: a 230-tonne LTM 1230-5.1 mobile crane, a 250-tonne GMK5250XL-1 all-terrain crane, a 300-tonne LTM 1300-6.2 and two 450-tonne all-terrain cranes – one LTM 1450-8.1 and one GMK6450-1.

A complex crane configuration for an extraordinary crane project.

As the container terminal plays a major role in handling cargo for ship, rail and road transport, managing the project to ensure that logistics operations could continue during the lift was a huge challenge. Therefore, the BKL Frankfurt team turned to CAD planning to develop the crane solution. They set up the cranes to guarantee access for delivery trucks at all times, while avoiding any interruptions in the rail transport to the terminal. Meanwhile, on the river side of the terminal, BKL’s crane specialists took the stability of the quay wall into account, ensuring its structural integrity and safeguarding the assembly, as the force had to be directed straight through the wall. Accordingly, they positioned the mobile cranes in such a way that the load distribution plates were placed on a few, specifically selected points above the tracks. However, it was not just the crane installation that was highly complex, the extremely limited space required meticulous timing for the approach and setup of the five mobile cranes.

Five mobile cranes carry out lifts during ongoing logistics operations.

For this ambitious project, BKL Frankfurt deployed state-of-the-art, powerful cranes from BKL’s fleet of over 130 mobile cranes. As a first step, three cranes lifted the 140-tonne main girder at its three anchor points to a height of 40 metres: an LTM 1450-8.1 with luffing jib on one side, paired with a GMK6450-1 and an LTM 1230-5.1 on the other.

At the same time, an LTM 1300-6.2 and a GMK5250XL-1 placed the 17-tonne supports for the gantry crane in the designated position on the water side. One highlight of the crane concept: the LTM 1300-6.2 stood directly behind the LTM 1450-8.1 during the lift, manoeuvring the support into its final position by reaching past the 450-tonne mobile crane. To position the two supports on the shore side, the BKL team then moved the 250-tonne and 300-tonne cranes within the construction area.

Thanks to thorough advance planning and BKL Frankfurt’s perfect teamwork on site, the breathtaking crane operation went like clockwork and Künz GmbH was able to install the gantry crane within the schedule dictated by terminal operations.