29.08.2012

Six Groves for Babcock

UK based engineering group Babcock International has taken delivery of last of six Grove cranes that it ordered at the end of last year.

The order included a 220 tonne GMK5220, two 100 tonne GMK4100L, two 50 tonne GMK3050-1 and a 45 tonne GCK3045 city crane. All six cranes are working at the Devonport Royal Dockyard and Naval base in Plymouth alongside two other GMK4100L units already based there.

Manitowoc UK not only supplied the cranes, but also organised the funding through its Manitowoc Finance division along with five-year parts and service packages through Manitowoc Crane Care.

The cranes will assist Babcock with a range of duties including repair and maintenance work on warships and submarines, which the company carries out for the Royal Navy.
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The largest of six new Grove cranes the 220 tonne GMK5220

Richard Hawkins, operations manager for naval bases at Babcock’s Devonport facility, said: “We talked to many suppliers, but found Manitowoc was best equipped to help us meet our needs. Looking at factors like availability and reliability, Manitowoc came out far ahead of the competition. We also liked the softer side of our discussions. If there were any difficulties during the process, there was always an attitude of ‘let’s fix this’.”
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(L-R) Alastair Cook of Babcock, Steve Barnett and Glen Tellock of Manitowoc, Richard Hawkins of Babcock, with Philippe Cohet and Kim Dandridge of Manitowoc on a British summers day

Babcock put the purchase of the All Terrain cranes out to tender after conducting a business case study, which showed cost and efficiency savings from owning and operating its own crane fleet, rather than renting cranes as it previously did. However, the purchase has not eliminated Babcock's need to rent larger cranes, as required for work that is beyond its largest crane, the GMK5220.

At any one time there are between nine and 14 cranes at Devonport, depending on work schedules. There is a very strict safety culture at the facility, which extends to material handling, one recent change has seen the banning of fork lift trucks for transporting loads. This means loads are placed on and off flatbed trucks for movement around the facility, with cranes providing the lifting work.

Alastair Clark, lifting services manager at Babcock, said: “The operators give us very positive feedback on these cranes. It also gives me reassurance that I will get support if there is a component failure. Crane Care has never let us down – even if we have unusual requests that we need handled at short notice.”

Steve Barnett, Manitowoc’s commercial director for the UK/Ireland and Scandinavia, added: “Meeting Babcock’s technical specification requirements was the easy part of this deal. The hard part was meeting the client’s needs in terms of delivery, finance and service. But we have a longstanding relationship with the UK’s Ministry of Defence, a major client of Babcock’s. We understand this industry and in the end we just kept working and coming up with different solutions until the customer was happy. We’re delighted to complete deliveries to Devonport and we’re even more pleased the cranes are performing well.”

To commemorate the completion of the order, Manitowoc chief executive Glen Tellock and European executive vice president Philippe Cohet visited Devonport to see the cranes working and to meet senior Babcock management.