Western Australia-based breakbulk steel distributor, Abrolhos Steel, has replaced a 30-year-old crane with a new Konecranes 5t CXT crane, to provide greater efficiency, reliability, and performance to its Geraldton facility.
The versatility and service backup of the CXT is a major asset in the safe and smooth handling and despatch of breakbulk steel products, such as plates, hollow sections, sheets, and other structural components.
Such large and irregularly shaped cargo is shipped to diverse and often remote sites using the breakbulk method of loading cargo individually, without the use of standard shipping containers, due to the size or shape of the steel pieces.
With the availability of parts becoming more difficult on the old crane, and additional work being needed to meet standards compliance, Abrolhos Steel Managing Director, Philip Martin, decided a versatile new crane would be a smarter investment.
“We chose Konecranes for our new cranes because they have a reputation for high quality products, good reliability, and outstanding service,” said Martin. “Being in a remote area – about 400km north of Perth – reliability was a key consideration when choosing our new crane. We could have selected a cheaper and less capable crane, but if there was a breakdown that caused us downtime, it would have cost us more in the long run. Konecranes gave us the reliability and service availability that we required,” he added.
The new crane installed at Abrolhos Steel is a 5t single-girder CXT electric overhead travelling crane with an 18-metre span, covering the entire width of the steel storage shed.
The crane is used to lift a wide range of steel components, including Rectangular Hollow Sections (RHS), steel plates, steel sheets, steel pipe, steel roofing, and a range of other parts and accessories. The crane is used both in storing parts onto racks, and in picking them out to move to a truck or loading area, ready to be taken to a customer.
“We serve a wide range of customers on the west coast of Australia – particularly the mining industry – so being able to efficiently store and retrieve steel parts using a crane is essential to our business,” says Martin.
In addition to supplying steel parts, Abrolhos Steel also specialises in the design and manufacture of workshops and offices – including dome shelters and containerised offices – for remote mine sites.
A smooth transition
The transition from the old crane to the new one was all completed within one week, thereby minimising downtime and disruptions to Abrolhos Steel’s operations.
“Taking a crane offline is always a challenging task, when you have customer orders to fulfil. With careful strategic planning from my team, combined with hard work and excellent communication from Konecranes, we were able to coordinate this highly effectively,” says Martin.
“Having a modern crane means we now have modern features too. We are now able to monitor how many loads are being moved, so we can more effectively and strategically plan our crane services, and further minimise downtime,” he adds.
“The crane is working perfectly in service, and the communication from the Konecranes team has been first class throughout the upgrade process.”
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About Konecranes
Konecranes is a global leader in material handling solutions, serving a broad range of customers across multiple industries. We consistently set the industry benchmark, from everyday improvements to the breakthroughs at moments that matter most, because we know we can always find a safer, more productive and sustainable way. That's why, with around 16,700 professionals in over 50 countries, Konecranes is trusted every day to lift, handle and move what the world needs. In 2024, Group sales totaled EUR 4.2 billion. Konecranes shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (symbol: KCR).
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