Scotland-based Global Crane Services decided their Demag TC2800 was starting to look tired from many years of hard work and is based on the North Sea coast.
So when your 600-ton crane needs not just a new paint job but a full on refurbishment who can you turn to? It's not like it's a car or a truck; this is a logistical nightmare. A crane like a TC takes a fleet of wagons and, more importantly, a team of highly skilled guys. Gouweleeuw BV based in the Netherlands has this all sewn up. The company has a team that takes care of the logistics of moving the machines from the ports to its modern facility.
Once at that facility, the machine starts to get fully stripped, repaired and prepared. This process is one of the most labour-intensive parts of the project - having the skill and knowledge to strip one of these cranes down to just a shell takes an army of guys and girls and some serious hardware.
With their own in-house 50ton overhead crane and engineers, They will start to unload all the large heavy parts like the superstructure, winches and outriggers ready for prep work.
Once all the parts have been cleaned and prepared - a process that takes in excess of more than 2000 man hours - the painting can begin.
A mind-boggling amount of primer and paint goes on to a 600 ton crane; in fact, it takes between 1500 and 2000 litres of new paint to make the TC look brand new again.
Once Gouweleeuw's team of skilled sprayers have finished their work and the army of engineers have rebuilt the crane, the final touches are installed including the company’s branding.
The final results are absolutely amazing. This is not just an old school, 5 gallon overhaul; this is making sure that Global Crane Services get another 10 years of reliability and use from a crane that a lot of companies would either scrap or sell on.
But as Global Crane Services and Gouweleeuw have proved, why do that when we all know a TC2800 is a good strong and reliable crane. Not only have they saved a perfectly serviceable crane from the scrap heap, they have safeguarded the time, effort and resources that went into making it in the first place.
once the Gouweleeuw team had delivered the crane back to the port in all of it's shiny new glory for its short trip back to the Uk the crane in its new Global Crane services livery had to hit the ground running and straight back to work in Nigg Scotland.
Crane Hub would like to thank the Gouweleeuw team for their help with this article, if you are interested in their services please visit the website.
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