The largest bucket wheel excavator in the world (probably)

Built by Krupp, seen here crossing a federal highway in Germany en route to its destination (an open-pit coal mine) it is cheaper to move the thing like this, than to construct or re-assemble on-site.

Stands over 95 metres tall, Is over 215 metres long (2.5 football fields) Weighs over 45,500 tons (yes that’s 45 thousand tons!), Cost $100 million USD, took 5 years to design & manufacture and 5 years to assemble

Only Requires 5 people to operate. The Bucket Wheel is over 70 feet in diameter with 20 buckets each of which can hold over 15 cubic metres of material. A 6-foot man can stand up inside one of the buckets.

It moves on 12 crawlers (each is 3.6 metres wide, 2.4 metres high and 14 metres long) 8 in front and 4 in back. Has a maximum Travel speed of 10m/min. It can remove over 76,455 cubic metres of overburden each day.

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The agriculture ministry recently purchased three long-reach excavators, valued at $137M, from Ainlim to boost its drainage and irrigation (D&I) work.

According to a Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) press release, Associated Limited Industries (AINLIM) Chief Executive Officer, Lakhnarine Shivraj, handed over the KOBELCO machines to Minister Robert Persaud at the company’s Ruimveldt location on Tuesday.

Government purchased the machines to enhance its fleet in order to conduct D&I works at several crucial areas such as the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), the Boerasirie Water Conser-vancy and on the East Bank Demerara, GINA said. The supply contract for the excavators was signed last October with a scheduled delivery deadline of February. However, the supplier had promised to deliver the machines by December.

According to GINA, over the last 15 months, government has invested significantly in the procurement of more equipment to shift its dependency from contracting its D&I projects. This is to ensure improved quality of work, enhanced ability to respond promptly to crucial areas and to do more work with limited resources. It is also part of the programme to help Guyana adapt to the impact of climate change through continuous improvement of the system, Persaud said.

GINA said government’s investment in more equipment is part of its wider focus on the long-term improvement of the D&I system. Currently there are 15 pieces of equipment operating within the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Scheme while an additional 21 are owned and operated by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority. The excavators are deployed countrywide in areas such as the Pomeroon and Corentyne where they are being used to empolder farmlands, construct embankments and dig drains among other works.

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