Preparation is key to success

"People say to me that lifting such big items must be exciting," says Reinder de Haan, global segment lead for transport and logistics at Mammoet in our oil and gas related feature (p36). "Well, actually, it should not be exciting... as this is when things go wrong. Everything should be pre-planned. The push for safety is such an important element it needs constant attention."

His point is echoed elsewhere in this issue, as all lifting and specialised transportation work has the potential to go wrong with serious consequences; planning is always essential.

In this month's Job of the Month – a tandem lift carried out by Vernazza Autogru using two Demag lattice boom crawler cranes at a shipbuilder's yard in Italy – everything went well. This was, in part, thanks to careful preparations which made it possible for the project to be completed safely and on schedule.

The areas in which Vernazza Autogrus' crawlers operated were meticulously made ready so that the cranes could operate safely. And, with one crawler operating at a lower height than the other for the tandem lift, nothing could be left to chance.

"Everything simply worked out perfectly: the planning and coordination with the customer, our team’s professionalism, and, needless to say, the reliability of our CC crawler cranes,” notes job manager Giulio Zunino.

Planning, of a different sort, has also been key to the success for various ports around the world which are handling more cargo than ever, as seen in our dockside lifting feature on page 20. The world’s supply chains may be buckling under the pressures of pandemic and war but the good news is that many ports around the world have planned for the future and are investing in new dockside lifting equipment. In addition, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced in December 2021 more than $241 million in grants to bolster US ports as part of Biden's near-term plan to address the clogged supply chain. And the amount of money for port improvements will nearly double to $450 million in grants annually for five years under Biden’s new infrastructure law.

So this issue demonstrates that with careful planning all sorts of challenges can be overcome.

Christian Shelton, Editor
Christian.Shelton@progressivemediainternational.com