BIG INVESTMENTS IN A NEW HEADQUARTERS AND NEW EQUIPMENT SHOW THAT SOUTHERN CRANES & AND ACCESS IS CONFIDENT ABOUT ITS FUTURE. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS ON A THRIVING BUSINESS.
A fleet of self-propelled cranes requires back-up. Something the size of the 350-tonne-capacity Liebherr LTM1350 that joined crane hire specialist Southern Cranes & Access in 2015 needs support from specialist transport to haul the 140 tonnes of counterweight required so the crane can operate to its full potential.
That’s why in addition to its mobile crane fleet the West Sussex-based company runs a comprehensive fleet of transport ranging from light vans to tractor units that haul low-loaders. Without them the company would be unable to deliver the service its customers expect say directors Robert Sadler and Kelvin Prince.
“We can either provide a crane and a driver who works to the client’s instructions or organise what we call a contract lift,” says Prince. “This means that we go and look at the job, plan it, carry out the necessary risk assessment and run the job ourselves. “If we have to cut trees back then we’ll deal with that. If we have to put a temporary roadway in, then we’ll deal with that too.”
M.J. CHURCH IN WILTSHIRE HAS TAKEN DELIVERY OF TWO NEW AROCS 2651 80-TONNE-GROSS UNITS TO REPLACE A PAIR OF 6X4 MAN TGX TRACTORS. HEAVYTORQUE VISITED FIND OUT THE REASONING BEHIND THE SWAP.
While the heavyweight SLT versions of the Mercedes Benz tractor unit range have grabbed most of the attention in recent years, the German manufacturer offers a large number of alternative specifications for operation at lighter weights. These include uprated 6×2 tractors in both pusher and tag axle form, along with 6×4 variants on either air suspension or steel springs, with either single reduction or hub reduction drive axles to meet operator’s exact needs.
These are based on either the Actros or Arocs ranges and are available with a variety of drivelines based on the proven OM471 12.8-litre engines or the bigger OM473 15.6-litre option, the OM470 10.8-litre is available for lighter applications up to 44 tonnes, but the bigger displacement motors are the obvious choice for heavier work.
Issue Eight: with 164 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
CURRENTLY MARKING 70 YEARS IN BUSINESS, EDINBURGH-BASED BERNARD HUNTER LTD PROVIDES CRANE HIRE AND HEAVY TRANSPORT SERVICES ACROSS THE CENTRAL LOWLANDS OF SCOTLAND. HEAVYTORQUE VISITS THE COMPANY TO DISCOVER HOW IT MAKES THE GRADE IN A WORK ARENA DOMINATED BY MULTI NATIONALS.
Sitting on a volcanic plug, Edinburgh Castle has dominated the vistas of Scotland’s capital for well over 1,000 years. Alternatively known as the Athens of the North, Edinburgh is also built on seven hills just like its Greek counterpart. The yellow booms and jibs of Bernard Hunter’s mobile cranes have also become a regular feature of the city’s picturesque skyline for the past 70 years. The company’s Liebherr lifters are regular visitors to Edinburgh Castle and its esplanade, as the firm construct and dismantle the large public grandstands for its world famous Military Tattoo every summer. Just a few months later, the city’s Christmas tree is always hoisted into place by a Bernard Hunter crane, a donation to the city which has been in place for over 40 years.
Back at the castle, if Historic & Environment Scotland wish to move ‘Mons Meg,’ a medieval cannon weighing around seven tonnes, it calls on the firm’s cranes to carefully negotiate their way through the narrow cobbled roads of Edinburgh’s ancient stronghold.
NOT EVERY ABNORMAL LOAD OPERATOR RUNS TOWERS OF SHINING NEW STEEL, CHROME AND GLASS. SOME DO PERFECTLY GOOD WORK WITH USED VEHICLES, AND VITALLY, ROOTS IN THE HAULAGE INDUSTRY. HEAVYTORQUE VISITED KYLES TRANSPORT SERVICES LTD (KTS) BASED NEAR NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES, A BUSINESS RUN BY A YOUNG MAN WITH AN APPRECIATION OF WHAT KEEPS CUSTOMERS HAPPY.
Setting up a business in the haulage industry at the age of seventeen has to mean that you’re keen. Kyle Hourihane’s father, Paul, and his Grandfather Albert, were already established hauliers in Newport, South Wales. It’s a third-generation business, but Hourihane has taken his part of the company away from regular haulage, and into the sphere of abnormal load (AL) work. Operating from the same base as his father, their two businesses complement each other, with the depth of over 30 year’s experience in his father’s hands, and the extra bowstring of AL work in his.
“We don’t agree about everything,” says Hourihane, “But I like to think that I’ve been running my side of the business for long enough, for us to learn from each other.” But he’s the first to admit that he certainly wouldn’t be where his is without the benefit of his father’s experience.
Issue Eight: with 164 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
WITH 30 PRIME MOVERS AND OVER 70 TRAILERS, DONNELL & ELLIS IS ONE OF THE LARGEST HEAVY HAULAGE FLEETS IN IRELAND. MANAGING DIRECTOR WILLIAM DONNELL GAVE HEAVYTORQUE THE INSIDE STORY ON THE RISE AND PROGRESSION OF THIS FLOURISHING BUSINESS.
In 1990 William Donnell was working as an engineer at a quarry crusher and screening machine manufacturer. Recognising an opportunity, he decided to buy a truck and trailer and offer his services to the company to deliver their products to Ireland, the UK and Europe. Within ten years the fleet had increased to 20 trucks and his customer base had grown exponentially. Strategically based on the outskirts of Omagh in Co. Tyrone, Donnell & Ellis is close to three of the top quarry machine manufacturers in the sector providing transport services for all of them. Added to this are regular deliveries of portable cabins, concrete beam structures, airport accessories – such as passenger aircraft stairways as well as aircraft body parts and wings – for other customers.
Originally based in Mountjoy, near Omagh, two-and-a-half years ago Donnell purchased an 11-acre disused dairy factory closer to the town, and established a state-of-the-art headquarters.
FOR ABNORMAL LOAD HAULIERS THE TRUCK IS USUALLY A RELATIVELY EASY DECISION. YES, IT NEEDS TO BE SPECIFIED CORRECTLY, AND WITHOUT OVER OR UNDER SPENDING. BUT THE TRAILER NEEDED FOR ANY SPECIFIC ROLE IS USUALLY WHERE THE DEVILISH DETAIL LIES. HEAVYTORQUE HAS BEEN TO SEE THE UK’S PREMIUM SPECIALIST BUILDER, ANDOVER TRAILERS. HE SPOKE TO COMMERCIAL MANAGER BOB GOWANS.
Andover Trailers has been in the business for over 30 years; it was formed in 1985 by three of the managers who previously worked for the well-established Tasker trailer company, also based in Andover. After 170 years in operation, that company became part of the John Brown group, and was subsequently sold on to Montracon, where the operation was quietly closed.
So much for the history, but as with so many names in the UK commercial body-building industry, the expertise doesn’t just vanish, it moves elsewhere. Among those in at the start of operations at Andover Trailers, was one of the best-known figures in the business, technical director, Leonard Fuller. He is soon to retire, and at 79, his contribution to the company, and the industry, can hardly be exaggerated.
Issue Eight: with 164 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
NOW APPROACHING 70 YEARS IN BUSINESS, O’NEILL HEAVY HAULAGE IS ONE OF THE LONGEST-RUNNING HEAVY HAULAGE OPERATORS IN IRELAND. BASED IN THE SMALL TOWN OF HOSPITAL, CO. LIMERICK, HEAVYTORQUE TALKS TO MANAGING DIRECTOR, JIMMY O’NEILL, ABOUT THE COMPANY’S DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PAST SEVEN DECADES.
Established in 1947 by his father, initially in livestock haulage, it was not until O’Neill himself got involved in the business in the late sixties that the company moved into heavy haulage. “It started off for us as a hobby really”, recalls O’Neill. “In the beginning we had one or two guys ask us to move some awkward loads and over time we got more and more inquiries for jobs, so we started to pick up more specialised equipment to cater for them and it developed from there. We are still using the original bank account started in 1947, even outlasting the bank branch which has been closed for nearly five years now”. What started off as a hobby is now the frontline service for O’Neill’s, with a wide range of customers in various sectors, from vessel manufacturers to wind turbine contracts and lots in between.
Currently, O’Neill Heavy Haulage is involved in the movement of 65 turbines to sites all over Ireland in a two-year contract with others still at tendering stage. Other work includes the installation of underground concrete cable connector boxes, and vessel deliveries for local tank manufacturers to sites throughout Ireland and the UK.
HEAVYTORQUE TALKS TO MICK RHODES, THE NEW BOSS AT SPECIALIST TRAILER SERVICES UK.
Our feature on Hutchinson Engineering in this issue of HeavyTorque highlights the group’s haulage operations. However, its latest venture, Specialist Trailer Services UK, offers a full range of maintenance, repair and refurbishment services for all makes of specialist trailers and associated equipment. It trades as a separate company from a large facility on a site a few miles further north on the old A1 trunk road from Hutchinson’s headquarters.
The man in charge, Mick Rhodes, will be familiar to many heavy hauliers as the erstwhile boss at Nooteboom’s Corby workshop. With a depth of practical experience of the Dutch manufacturer’s products, he was the go-to man if you had a problem with a Nooteboom trailer. For many operators his ability to diagnose faults over the phone is the stuff of legend. Many drivers, stuck on the side of the road, have been very grateful to get going again after speaking to Rhodes.
Issue Eight: with 164 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
WHEN IT COMES TO SAYING IT LIKE IT IS, HUTCHINSON ENGINEERING SERVICES BOSS, IAN (TINK) HUTCHINSON PULLS NO PUNCHES, AS HEAVYTORQUE FINDS OUT ON HIS VISIT TO THIS THIS ENGINEERING COMPANY WHICH EVOLVED INTO A HEAVY HAULIER.
Many specialist heavy haulage operators like to be self reliant. The ability to maintain, repair, modify and if required build your own equipment has been an essential factor for many operators for generations. Most have had to learn the necessary skills as they went along, improving their facilities and recruiting skilled staff as the business expanded.
Nottinghamshire based Hutchinson Engineering Services Ltd, approached this issue from the opposite direction, starting out offering repair, maintenance and fabrication services to predominately agricultural customers, before branching out into heavy transport. Gradual expansion and the acquisition of bigger vehicles led to a specialist operation providing a nationwide service with outfits of up to 150 tonnes capacity. The company also offers mobile cranes, access equipment and other plant for hire, providing complete packages, including engineering, fabrication, lifting, transportation and installation.
Issue Eight: with 164 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
