Essex Crane Rental has supplied two crawler cranes to Chesapeake Mechanical to assist with the US$500m expansion of the Essroc Cement Plant in Martinsburg, WV The expansion involves building towers, silos, collectors and process ducts.

Essex first provided a Manitowoc 4100W with tower attachment. The crane was used to reach the tallest parts of the towers, silos and collectors.

Essex’s Liebherr LR1300 with luffing jib was subsequently added to the site to place the hard-to-reach process duct work. Lifts of the 32 foot diameter sections ranged from 70,000 to 85,000 pounds.

The expansion is expected to be completed in early 2010.  Once completed, it is rumored the new building will be the tallest in West Virginia.