Babcock boosts crane hire fleet, opens new branch in Rustenburg

11th April 2014 By: Zandile Mavuso - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Features

Engineering support services company Babcock has made a major investment into its equipment hire fleet with a view to expanding its crane hire services into the mining sector this year.

In line with its expansion plans, the company bought one ATF 40G-5, one ATF 90G-4, three ATF 130G-5s and three ATF 220G-5 Tadano all-terrain cranes, as well as one GR350-XL Tadano rough-terrain crane in the last quarter of 2013. The fleet now consists of more than 170 cranes ranging from 5 t to 600 t, distributed nationally and within the other Southern African Development Community countries.

With a combined inventory of more than 20 000 items for hire, Babcock is already a leading supplier of mobile cranes, as well as welding and mechanical construction plant to the energy, process, marine, petrochemicals and construction industries in Africa. Since joining forces with mobile crane hire-service provider Target Cranes in 2012, Babcock has become the largest empowered mobile crane and plant service provider in Southern Africa.

“In addition to investing in the new cranes, we’ve opened up a dedicated branch in Rustenburg to focus on serving mining operations in the area. A 40 t, 130 t and two 220 t cranes have been deployed to this branch and our Rustenburg field service team is fully equipped to service both at client sites and at the branch workshop,” says Babcock GM Ian Kendrick.

The Tadano ATF 40G-2 features a full width two-man cabin and a telescopic boom extending 10.45 m to 35.2 m. Safety devices include electronic load moment and automatic overload shut-off, hoist limit with shut-off, overload warning and load moment gauge. Digital displays show boom angle, boom length, sheave height, working radius and hook load.

Kendrick further notes that the ATF 130G-5 is equipped with an 18 m boom extension mounted to the 60 m main boom. It can be carried along with the crane, which has a total weight of 60 t and an axle load of 12 t. As required, the boom extension can be used as a 3.8 m heavy-duty jib or as a 10 m to 18 m jib, eliminating the need to transport and mount the whole boom extension, or the heavy duty jib, separately, and achieving significant cost savings.

“We are the only plant services operator in South Africa with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001 accreditation. After decades of high-quality service in the sales and servicing of site equipment to a diversity of customer sectors, we are excited to be moving with purpose into the mining sector,” he concludes.