Babcock has made a major investment into its equipment hire fleet with a view to expanding its crane hire services into the mining sector. In line with its expansion plans, the fleet now consists of more than 160 cranes ranging from 8 tons to 600 tons, distributed nationally and within the other SADC countries. The company recently purchased one ATF 40G-5, one ATF 90G-4, three ATF 130G-5 and three ATF 220G-5 Tadano all-terrain cranes, as well as one GR350-XL Tadano rough-terrain crane.
Expanded crane fleet for mining sector
With a combined inventory of more than 25 000 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, petrochemical and construction industries in Africa.
Babcock is 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,” says Babcock’s Ian Kendrick. “A 40 ton, 130 ton and two 220 ton 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.”
The Tadano ATF 40G-2 features a full width two-man cabin and a telescopic boom extending from 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. 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 ton and an axle load of 12 tons. As required, the boom extension can be used as a 3.8 m heavy duty jib or as a 10/18 m jib, eliminating the need to transport and mount the whole boom extension separately, or the heavy duty jib, and achieving significant cost savings.
The ATF 220G-5 offers a high load capacity combined with a 68 m main boom and an axle load of 12 tons to ensure possible utilisation and applications up to the 6-axle class. Boom extensions can be offset mechanically and, since bending takes place at the main boom head, the crane can be placed close to buildings and lift loads far beyond the building’s edges, owing to the 20 or 40 degree bend of the boom extensions. Installation close to buildings also ensures a short working radius, so that the full range of the load charts can be utilised, with less site space blocked by the crane.
All the new cranes incorporate environmentally friendly Bluetec engines, while the ATF 130G-5 and ATF 220G-5 are equipped with the unique Tadano Lift Adjuster as standard, which can be activated at the touch of a button. In case of critical loading conditions the Lift Adjuster allows for quick and easy load pick-up without load swing, considerably reducing accident risk during crane operations, as the crane driver need not watch the radius display and can focus full attention on the load. “We are the only plant services operator in South Africa with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001 accreditation,” says Kendrick. “After decades of high quality service in the sales and servicing of site equipment to a diversity of customer sectors, we’re excited to be moving with purpose into the mining sector.”
