45
APRIL 2015
ACT
SPMTS
PRODUCT FOCUS
John Skelly
speaks to
manufacturers and users
about the versatile nature
of the SPMT.
thedockwhere theywill bepickedup
andmountedon thevessel.Onceon the
vessel, the craneswill beused to load and
unload cargo and support theday-to-day
operations of theoffshore companywho
purchased them.
Berard’snewGeneration4Scheuerle
SPMTwas 2.4meterswidewith1.4meter
axle spacing, completewith electronic
steering and remote control operation.
The44 axle linesusedwere a lotmore
capacity than theyneeded. Thegross
capacityof 44 axle lines is farmore than
the600 tons thepedestal craneweighed,
but the cranehad a tremendouslyoffset
center of gravity.As a result, Berard added
some length to the transporter tokeep the
load secure.
“Wewanted todiversifyour fleet and
we’reprettyhappywith it,” saidBraedon
Berard,COO, BerardTransportation.
“WewelcomeScheuerle’s fleet.We’vebeen
utilizing themquite abit.”
When it comes tomodernmarvels,
Berardholds theSPMT inhigh esteem.
“It’s thebest pieceof heavy transport
equipment that’s ever been invented,”he
said. “For asdiversified as it is, anything
L
astDecemberBerard
Transportationpurchased
their first fleet of Scheuerle
self-propelledmodular transporters, or
SPMT for short. ThenewGeneration4
Scheuerle SPMTswereput touse almost
immediately, transporting the first two
of four 600-tonMacGregor pedestal
cranes to a storage facility at theTheodore
Industrial Port inTheodore,ALby the
endof February.
Tomove each crane, Berard’s crewused
44 axle lines of ScheuerleSPMT and two
powerpacks. The craneswere loadedonto
theScheuerleSPMT and then traveled a
quarter of amile to the storage facility.
There theywere jackeddownusing12
of Berard’s 200-ton climbing jacks. The
transport took about anhour to complete.
The third and fourth craneswill be
transportedbyBerardduring themonth
ofMay.Once all four cranes are in storage,
theywill remain there for roughly12
monthswhile thevessel they’re tobe
loadedon is finishedbeing constructed.
When that time comes, Berardwill
be involved in transporting the four
cranes backout of storage andover to
you can transport onpaper, you canmove
with anSPMT.”
Origins
Scheuerle is regarded as the inventor
of theSPMT. That is,what has become
known as the standarddimensionSPMT:
8-feetwide and either four or six axle
units.According toRolandFischer,
area salesmanager for Scheuerle, these
dimensionsmakeup about 90percent of
themarket currently. Scheuerle cameup
with thismodel in1983. The electronic
steering capability theybecameknown
forwas actuallybornout of adifferent
transportation innovation, shipyard
transporters,which aremuchwider and
longer.
The ideawas to create abigger
transporter out of small pieces to
accommodatedifferent sized loads.One
hundred axle lines together couldmove a
wholeoil rig, coupled end-to-endor side-
by-side, and a few axles lines couldmove
somethingmuch smaller.
“Anyone canbuild a transporter for one
need, but the ideawas tohave it in small
segments andput it together as youneed
it,” saidFischer. “Then, asusual, different
customers came touswithdifferent ideas.
Thebreakingpointwaspeoplewanted to
have the technologybut needed tobe able
tomove it, tomobilize it at a low cost, and
thatwas thekey to success.”
Themorepeople started to seewhat
theSPMTwas capableof, themore it
caught on. It developed its ownmarket,
and as cranes continued to advance
technologically, the twopieces of
>46
Berard Transportationmoves
a 600 ton pedestal crane at an
Alabama industrial port.
More lines,
larger capacities
24 axle lines of Goldhofer’s
PST/ES/E.
