Specialists in pipe handling: SENNEBOGEN 870 E material handler at Mülheim Pipecoatings

A total of seven SENNEBOGEN 870 material handlers are now successfully in operation as specialist equipment for pipe handling at the company Mülheim Pipecoatings. Every day the material handlers move hundreds of pipes up to 18 m (approx. 59 feet) in length and up to 15 t in weight. This requires a fine touch - the pipes are to be used in the new pipeline Nord Stream 2, which in future will transport more gas under the Baltic Sea through to Germany. That is just one of many major orders from around the globe - SENNEBOGEN material handlers have a lot of work to do.

Mülheim Pipecoatings (MPC) is part of the EUROPIPE concern, which is a market leader in the production of longitudinal and spiral seam-welded large-diameter pipes in practically any dimension you could wish for. Among others, they also produce pipes for the Nord Stream Pipeline in the Baltic. Since 2011, Russian gas has flowed through this pipe over a total length of 1224 km under the Baltic Sea and through to Germany. Back then most of the pipes needed also came from MPC from Mülheim an der Ruhr. In the future, with the construction of a second parallel pipe, up to an extra 55 billion cubic meters (1942 billion cubic feet) of gas will be transported. The construction of the Nord Stream 2 is currently underway at full speed and once again the pipes are from Mülheim - sorted, stored and loaded by SENNEBOGEN material handlers.

At the end of 2016 Sales and Service Partner Baumaschinen Rhein-Ruhr (BRR) was able to deliver two more SENNEBOGEN 870 material handlers for pipe handling at MPC. The machines in the current E series are equipped with a 261 kW diesel engine and the tried and tested Green Hybrid energy recovery system. With a maximum range of 20 m (approx. 66 feet) even pipes up to 15 t in weight and 18 m (approx. 59 feet) can be stacked and loaded safely.

'Before loading them onto wagons we check each pipe for damage and ensure that they are loaded in the right order. For this reason, it is also important that, despite the heavy loads, it is possible to work as carefully as possible, ensuring that materials are not damaged. With the SENNEBOGEN 870 we have the perfect combination of range, an easy to handle working load and sensitive control,' Head of Logistics Alexander Jähring explains the advantages of the green material handlers.

If nothing else, as the cost per pipe can reach up to 20,000 euros, the driver needs to be fully focused. The pipes are carefully lifted from the truck using a hanging spreader or vacuum traverse, are inspected again and then finally loaded onto wagons for further transportation – always within perfect view from the Maxcab industrial comfort cab which can be raised by 3.0 m (9.8 feet) and moved forwards by 2.6 m (8.5 feet).

The SENNBOGEN machines have also won Alexander Jähring over in day-to-day operations and maintenance and service. 'In the meantime we have seven machines from the 870 range in operation. They have not had to undergo any major repairs and in the case of minor incidents we are able to solve the problem ourselves thanks to the easy to service machine structure - a quality feature that we are very satisfied with.'