In less than a year on the market, National Crane’s NBT15 series boom trucks are already having an impact with efficient lifts and easy transportation.
EPCOR Utilities Inc. (EPCOR), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has been using its new NBT16 – one of three cranes in the NBT15 series, which also includes the NBT14 and NBT15 – to great effect in the energy sector. The company builds and operates electrical transmission and distribution networks in Canada. EPCOR oversees numerous electrical projects, working with heavy, high-voltage electrical equipment that needs to be lifted by a crane.
Time is always a major factor for the company. When it needs to work with a live electrical system for a project, the power is often turned off, leaving a tight window for EPCOR to complete its work before the power starts flowing again.
Those short windows are exactly what make its National Crane NBT16 so useful. The boom truck’s efficient travel and quick set-up let EPCOR move in quickly, complete the required lifts, and then rapidly pack up and head to the next job site.
Cory Fedoruk, who operates the NBT16 for EPCOR, said the new crane has been a welcome asset.
“We work on dangerous job sites where time is of the essence. We have to de-energize and ground the equipment we work on,” he said. “We have limited outages on most jobs, which results in a compressed timeframe to complete our work. The NBT16 can quickly move in and complete the lifts, whereas another crane would take much longer to set up and prep for the job, increasing the cost and time spent on a project.”
EPCOR uses its NBT16 to lift items such as current transformers, capacitance voltage transformers, lightning arrestors, capacitors, aluminum buses, and transformer components. The NBT16's 16-ton capacity easily handles EPCOR’s lifting requirements.
The NBT16 is part of the NBT15 series, which also includes the 14-ton-capacity NBT14 and the 15-ton-capacity NBT15. All three feature a 60-ft., three-section, full-power boom, and can be controlled via the standard remote control with dual side docking stations.
The NBT15 series also brings increased flexibility with out-and-down outriggers, instead of the traditional A-style outriggers that offer only one setup configuration. The outriggers offer a fully extended span of 17'4"; mid-span of 12'4"; and retracted span of 7'4" to adapt to different job site conditions and spaces.
“We are very happy with this new style of crane,” Fedoruk said. “For us, they filled the void between 10- and 18-ton cranes. And we really like the H-style outriggers.”
EPCOR purchased the boom truck from the Edmonton branch of Strongco, an Ontario-based seller and renter of industrial equipment for industries including construction, road building, mining and forestry. Strongco is one of Canada’s largest construction equipment distributors with an extensive network of branches across the country and in the northeastern U.S.
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
