India's economic boom has seen many years of continued growth, and the country's air traffic volume has closely followed. In order to be able to handle the increasing number of passengers and meet the growing need for larger cargo volumes, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai has been undergoing a continuous process of expansion since 2006.

As part of this ambitious project, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), an Indian construction and mechanical engineering company, is building a new multi-story parking structure and a new air traffic control tower, and is relying on Terex CTT 181-8 and CTT 231-10 tower cranes to do the job.

Performing construction work in the vicinity of an airport that will remain open despite the construction work around it, is always a difficult challenge, even more when the airport is as big as the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Its role as the international hub for India's most populous city not only makes it one of the largest airports in India but has also turned the region into one of the busiest in the subcontinent.

"In order to build the new parking structure and the tower, we had to set up the cranes directly within the airport's busy area. This meant that we would only be able to use flat top cranes, due their lower absolute overall height," explains Udit Narayan Singh, the ECC project manager responsible for the project. And since L&T has over 34 Terex tower cranes in its fleet, the result of years of cooperation with Terex, there were plenty of options to choose from. The Terex CTT 181 (with a configuration in which the crane would be tied to the ground) was chosen to build the new control tower, while the Terex CTT 231-10 (with a configuration featuring rails) was chosen for the parking structure. Both cranes proved their worth from the start. Even though they were surrounded by heavy traffic in a very busy area, they enabled the L&T team to perform their work quickly and with absolute precision while making it possible to comply with extremely strict safety regulations.

In fact, the subject of safety is of paramount importance to L&T, and is one of the main drivers why L&T purchases Terex cranes, as Singh emphasises: "Every time we're working on a project, we end up noticing that Terex obviously attaches enormous importance to the safety of both crane operators and of workers at construction sites when developing cranes. Also, their cranes are characterised by extremely strong structures with exceptional torsional rigidity, which lets us perform challenging lifts while knowing that everyone involved will be safe." It is important to mention, however, that other important factors have also played a role in L&T's decisions. "The fact that the cranes are easy and quick to assemble and disassemble enables us to quickly get them from site to site for new projects," Singh explains.

At dizzying heights

The two Terex flat top tower cranes at the Mumbai airport are mainly in charge of providing the workers there with the steel and concrete they need in order to build the parking structure and the air traffic control tower. This needs to be done at impressive heights, and the cranes are perfectly prepared for this, as they can reach a height of nearly 30 m and have 35 m long jibs. "This configuration enables them to lift the required loads of up to 10 tonne for the parking structure and 8 tonne for the tower," explains Singh. The two units have been performing this task with absolute reliability for over a year now, which is why the L&T team is sure that they will be able to complete the project as scheduled, in December 2013, with the help of their Terex tower cranes.

The Terex? CTT 181 crane

The Terex? CTT 181 can reach a lifting capacity of up to 8 tonne and has a maximum jib length of 65 m and a load moment of 180 mt. Its main jib can be configured with a length of 35 to 65 m in 5 m increments, and the crane's lifting capacity when working with its maximum jib length is 1.9 tonne. The Terex CTT 181-8 is available in various tower heights and combinations, and has a maximum free-standing height of 67.2 m. Among the many advantages offered by this Terex "City" flat top unit are the modular design of its jib, the fact that standard spare parts are available for it, and that it is easy to transport and set up.

The Terex? CTT 231-10 flat top tower crane

The Terex CTT 231-10 can reach a lifting capacity of up to 10 tonne and has a maximum jib length of 70 m and a load moment of 230 mt. Its main jib can be configured with a length of 35 to 70 m in 5 m increments, and the crane's lifting capacity when working with its maximum jib length is 2.1 tonne. The Terex CTT 231-10 is available in various tower heights and combinations, and has a maximum free-standing height of 62.2 m. Much like the CTT 181, this unit also features a modular jib design, has standard spare parts available, and is easy to transport and set up. The CTT 231 can also be available with 12 t maximum capacity.

The entire range of Terex CTT flat top tower cranes encompasses a total of 26 models with load moments ranging from 50 to 720 mt. All Terex flat top cranes are characterised by quality workmanship that ensures they will perform reliably under continuous operation. In addition, easy maintenance access and integrated safety functions keep downtimes to a minimum, helping ensure a high level of cost-effectiveness that is also furthered by the units' ergonomic cabs, which enable crane operators to work safely and without fatigue for long periods of time.

L&T, founded in 1938 by Danish engineers Larsen and Toubro, is India's most important service provider in the field of technology, engineering, manufacturing, and civil engineering. L&T Construction uses Terex tower cranes as its equipment of choice, and has acquired a total of 34 of these machines through the years, consistently deciding on flat top models, eg, the CTT 181 B-8, CTT 231-10, CTT 561-32, CTL 180-16, and CTT 161-8. The only instance in which the company uses a non-flat top model is when building high-rises in Mumbai, for which it uses a Terex luffing jib tower crane. In order to ensure that these cranes have the necessary flexibility to work under all kinds of site conditions, they have a number of special configurations that are subdivided into three types ? being tied to a structure (R configuration), moving on rails (T configuration), or featuring a fixed chassis (FP configuration).