Spanish manufacturer Jaso has supplied a demountable modular gantry crane for a tunnelling project in Chile.

The 16t-capacity crane is being used to unload pipes into tunnelling shafts created to feed desalination plants, sewage works, and sanitation and draining systems. Eurohinca, a company belonging to the Terratest International Group and a specialist in tunnel construction, asked Jaso to build a specialised, easy-totransport crane to be used in its various projects across the world.

To meet these requirements, Jaso designed and supplied a demountable modular gantry crane with variable spans of 9m, 17m and 24m. The operator can assemble and dissemble the crane easily, explains Jaso, and use it in subsequent projects with different shaft diameters.

The crane’s first installation was in the Chilean region of Atacama, to assist the construction of a tunnel being built to improve the sewerage system in the area. Its main function at this project is to deliver pipes into the sewage shaft of the Copiapó desalination plant and to transport a variety of other materials used for building the tunnel.

Chile con Crane