08.07.2025

In and out of the ditch

Last Wednesday morning in the Netherlands, a four axle All Terrain crane towing a three axle ballast trailer rolled into a ditch when the verge of a very narrow track it was travelling on gave way.
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The crane a four axle Grove from the Peinemann rental fleet had taken a wrong turn and was travelling down Bonnenweg, a narrow single lane track serving a few remote farms between the Hook of Holland – (Hoek van Holland for our Dutch readers and purists) and Maasdijk. The situation was complicated by the fact that a gas main runs beneath the road and there were fears it had been compromised. Thankfully the driver/operator escaped without being hurt, although he was reported to be suffering from shock.
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Peinemann managed to formulate a plan and obtain all the required approvals in order to rescue the crane before the end of the week.
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The track from the nearest 'proper road' was laid for the recovery cranes

It began with the laying of a track, made up mostly of timber sleepers, across several fields to reach the site, where a large space was created using ground protection mats for the tandem lift recovery using two six axle All Terrains from its fleet.
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With a large working area for the two cranes and their equipment

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The rescue lift begins

The videos below show the recovery



Two other videos of the recovery from a different perspective.