• As wind turbines grow taller, Manitowoc expands its MLC300 boom insert options to increase boom lengths for greater reach.
• The new Wide Boom Plus inserts boost the MLC300’s flexibility to complete more jobs with the crane

Manitowoc is expanding its boom insert offering with the new Wide Boom Plus kit for its MLC300 lattice-boom crawler crane. The new inserts will give crane operators extra reach by lengthening their booms up to 429.8 ft (131 m) when used in combination with the VPC-MAX® and extended upper boom points. They will be particularly useful for assembling wind turbines. 

The height of utility-scale, land-based wind turbines has increased nearly 60% in the last two decades, reaching an average of 295 ft (90 m) in 2020 in the U.S. Wind turbines are expected to keep growing in size in the coming years, as building the turbines to higher elevations enable the wind towers to harness stronger winds. The new Manitowoc boom inserts will enable the 386 US t (350 tonnes) MLC300 to construct these increasingly tall wind towers. 

Brennan Seelinger, Manitowoc’s product manager for crawler cranes, said wind turbine work above 295 ft (90 m) currently requires a 450 US t (400 tonnes) or larger crane, which can result in higher costs for operation and transportation. 

“Our new boom inserts will open up more jobs for our crawler crane owners,” he said. “They will increase utilization of our MLC300 crane with added flexibility. Where before crane operators would need to bring in a larger crane to reach heights above 295 ft [90 m], now they’re able to employ their MLC300 with boom inserts and take advantage of increased reach from its smaller footprint.” 

The new Wide Boom Plus inserts kit for the Manitowoc MLC300 crawler crane is now available for purchase everywhere Manitowoc cranes are sold.