Babcock Target Plant Services

American energy engineering and construction group Babcock and Wilcox was founded in 1867. Babcock delivered and designed equipment for power and industrial sectors, and it first supplied boilers in South Africa in the early 1920s.

The first Babcock company was registered in South Africa in 1946. In the fifties, Babcock purchased Triplejay Equipment and began to distribute various brands of construction equipment.

Babcock owned a fleet of mobile and tower cranes, as well as large quantities of mechanical construction gear used for constructing the Eskom power stations in South Africa.

It soon became apparent that, during quiet in-house construction periods, it made sense to hire equipment to third parties and the plant division was born.

This expanded into a fleet of 60 cranes and 14000 items of mechanical construction equipment including welding machines, tractors, compressors, grinding equipment, slings, hoists, distribution boards and mobile offices. There were branches throughout Gauteng and equipment and cranes are hired throughout Sub Saharan Africa up to and including the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2011 Babcock was introduced to Target Cranes by our mutual empowerment shareholders, Sphere Holdings, and discussions began on a possible merger of the two businesses.

Agreement was reached in 2012 and in June, we formed Babcock Target Plant Services. The merged entity has a fleet of 140 cranes with capacities from 8 to 600USt and approximately 15,000 items of mechanical construction equipment.

Babcock's decision to go ahead was based on expanding its fleet and providing access to the Cape market, an area where Babcock had not had a presence. Expansion through the merger provided an
expanded fleet, new markets and an enhanced, experienced management team.

With the division, Babcock has gained up-to-date, heavier cranes, more staff and more equipment. It also gained Level 3 BBBE [Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment] and a national and SADC [Southern African Development Community, a group of 15 Southern African states] presence. It achieves international standard: ISO 9001, 14001, 18001.

Babcock Target is currently evaluating its existing fleet with a view to expansion into new markets. These will include sustainable energy options such as wind farms.