16.09.2019

Sean Hannah 1945-2019

We have received the sad news that UK crane rental veteran Shaun Hannah of Newcastle and Gateshead crane hire has died.

He passed away peacefully in hospital, surrounded by his loving family on 13th September at the age of 74, leaving behind his wife and co-founder, Amanda, children and grandchildren.
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A recent photo of Shaun Hannah with daughter Julie

He and his cranes worked on a number of major projects in the region, including the construction of the Redheugh Bridge, Centre for Life and the Metrocentre. He also worked on the refurbishment of Grey's Monument, the Tyne Theatre and Eldon Square, as well as carrying out various projects at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend.
Hannah failed his 11 plus exams, left school and went to work on the railways with his father. He did not stay long, joining locally based Reeds Cranes, where he trained as a crane and HGV truck mechanic/fitter. A few years later, he moved to F Short & Son haulage, where he was appointed as a foreman fitter with a wage of £30 a week. While working there he met truck driver Billy Hodgson.
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A young Sean Hannah

In the early 1970s, Hannah decided to set up on his own, purchased a truck and coined the name Sean Hannah Transport. He was soon joined by Hodgson, and they purchased another truck. The two worked around the clock to establish the new business. A key breakthrough, though, was winning a contract from S&N Breweries.
More trucks and drivers were added as the business blossomed. They set up their first depot in North Shields and, as the transport business grew, decided to move into the crane hire business with Newcastle Crane Hire. By the late 1980s, they had a fleet of around 50 cranes and 12 trucks, with revenues of £8 million and 100 employees. And claimed to be the largest crane rental hire company in the north of England.
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Sean Hannah is the third from the right, with wife Amanda and co-director Billy Hodgson celebrating the arrival of a new crane, a mid-size Krupp KMK unit, under the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle in the late 1980s.

Around this time, one of the national crane rental companies apparently offered them £4 million, but oddly did not want to hire the staff. So Hannah decided against it. Sadly, though, a few years later, the downturn at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s crippled the company, and it closed its doors in 1991.
In 2002, he set up a new crane rental company, Newcastle and Gateshead Crane Hire in partnership with his wife, Amanda, which they wound up just over nine years ago.