46
ACT
APRIL 2015
PRODUCT FOCUS
SPMTS
equipment pairednicelyon increasingly
heavier andmoredifficult jobs.
“Engineerswould sayhey, there’s this
equipment out there, there is away to
move it,” saidFischer. “So really, together
as cranes got stronger and stronger, the
SPMTs allowed the industry tobuild
bigger andbigger.And they’re still
growing. Sincehey, noproblem, put eight
SPMTsunder it insteadof six.”
Reliability iswhat Scheuerledepends
on. If one transporterdoesn’t function,
the complete systemdoesn’t function.
Software, then, iswhereSPMTswill
continue togetmore advanced.AsFischer
said, yougrowwithyour customers.
“It’s all about the software,”he said.
“Youhave a computer system andyour
customer comes toyou and says ‘Hey
wewant touse it thiswayor thatway,
wehave anSPMThere andhere, how
doweprogram them to talk?’ Software
development goes on andon andwe learn
fromour customers. They comewith the
needs,we find a solution.”
Scheuerlehas built 12,500 axle lines
of the8-foot SPMT. Fischer,whohas
been in the industry eight years, guesses
that’s about 80-85percent of themarket.
Recently they cameupwith an “arctic”
version that canoperate in -40F aswell
as tropical conditions and a “fast” version
that can travel up to14mph, depending
on thepayload.Aswell, they’ve about
doubled the capacity the8-foot SPMT
since the1980s.
Scheuerle is oneof three companies
that belong toTransporter Industry
International (TIIGroup).
60 tons per axle
Cuneo, Italy-basedComettomanufactures
a lineof threeSPMTs,with a fourth
currently in theworks. TheMSPE40T,
MSPEEVO50T and theMSPEEVO2
60Thave40, 50 and60-ton capacities,
respectively, and a70-tonmodel has
undergone testing.Allmodels are
interchangeable and linkable complete
with electronic steering and twooptions
forwireless remotes.
TheMSPEEVO260Twas released
in2012 and isunique toCometto.
They’ve soldmore than1,000 axle lines
of thismodel in threeyears. It offers the
maximum capacityper the1.4mm axle
spacing configuration: 60 tonsper axle.
TheseSPMTs are currentlybeingusedon
thePanamaCanal expansionproject.
ComettoMSPEEVO260Tswill
transport 16newgates, eachone roughly
100 feet high, 200 feet long andup to
4,000 tons. Themovewill cover a little
over twomilesper trip.
According toTreyLittle, an agent for
Cometto in theU.S.,Cometto is branching
outwith ahandling technlogiesproduct
line called “ComettoHT.”
“Thesewill be smallerunits, same
sort of design, but lighter capacities for
indoor spaces likewarehouses,” saidLittle.
“Some are completely automated, they’ll
followwhite stripes on theground and
things like that. They evendesigned an
explosion-proofmodel.”
Comettohas beenproducingSPMTs
since the1980s alongwithScheuerle and
Goldhofer.
Flexibility pays off
Last yearGoldhofer introduced electronic
steering to their 8-footwideSPMT.
“Thehigher bendingmoment,
additional side stability, thehigher speed
of operation and theusageof standard
components like tires and rims are some
of thekey features of this equipment,”
saidRainerAuerbacher, area sales
manager, heavydutymodules,Goldhofer.
“Besides that, Tier IV final engines and
all the related standards are also available
nowadays.”
TheSPMTmarket is trulyglobal
according toAuerbacher. Thedemand
for equipment inEurope is comparable
toNorthAmerica.Aswell, there are
someunits inLatinAmerican andSouth
America albeit far less thanEurope and
NorthAmerica.
“Nonetheless, huge transport companies
based inEurope andNorthAmerica are
Berard purchased a fleet of Scheuerle Generation 4, 8-foot wide SPMTs in December, 2014.
>48
ComettoMSPE EVO2 60T transporting a
new gate for the Panama Canal.
