We recently received an inquiry late on Thursday afternoon about transferring a 340 ton column from an inland waterway vessel to a coaster. Routine enough, except that the job had to be done Friday, the next day!
Our Planning Department immediately jumped into action and checked the availability of heavy cranes and quay space at the Mammoet Heavy Lift Terminal in Schiedam. We were able to show our flexibility and made a Demag AC700 available, one of the largest mobile cranes in Europe. Our Engineering Department then made the lifting plan for the AC700 together with our 250 tons PBH harbor crane (the largest of its type in Rotterdam).
The next afternoon, the AC700 was fully erected at our terminal well ahead on schedule. When the coaster arrived it took only half an hour to prepare the load spreading. The final step was to transship the 340 mte column from the inland waterway vessel into the coaster. Obviously, the customer was relieved that we could help them at such short notice and within budget, saving them high demurrage costs for the coaster.
This job underlines some of Mammoet’s strengths: in-house engineering capacity, extensive fleet of equipment, our own heavy lift terminals (at Schiedam and Terneuzen), well skilled personnel and a culture of customer focus.