Gottwald AK 350-83

The second crane was supplied to the East German firm “VEB IMO Merseburg”. This company used to operate a AK270 before, but this crane was badly damaged in a traffic accident. Due to the shortage of western currencies in the GDR, the decision was made to buy only the base machine of a AK350 an re-use the boom sections of the AK 270. According to this, Gottwald only supplied the base machine an adaptors for the boom and counterweight. (Because of this, this crane is often referred to as the “AK 350/270”.)

Later, the crane was bought by van Seumeren who had it rebuild by Huisman to a “MDC 3500”. This included a new main boom with a larger cross section (while the old AK 270 main boom was reworked into a luffing jib) and a hammer-shaped heavy-load top as well as a derrick mast. Contrary to common practice, this mast isn’t built in the usual lattice style but made out of sheetmetal, making it look like a large A frame. After some time of unknown ownership, the crane was finally working for Sarens in Mexcio, were it was heavily damaged in a traffic accident. Sarens is currently working on rebuilding the crane.

The third crane was a MK 350-84 that was shipped to South Africa. It is said to work as an harbour crane there. The crane lacks a drive for the undercarriage and is equipped with double tyres on all axles. (Therefore, one should expect a “MK 350-88” designation.) Furthermore, the upper carriage is very different form the other to 350 t cranes.

In general, it can be said that the AK 350 does look much like the AK 450 – even the boom parts have the same dimensions. Gottwald also thought of building a Maxilift system for the AK 350s which would have required an additional winch on the 26 m (85 ft) derrick mast, but it was never built.