Nigerian and UK Galvanizing Wins for Overhead Cranes from Street

Leading industrial crane supplier, Street Crane Company is celebrating orders from two galvanizers.  Dorman Long Engineering is buying five overhead travelling cranes for their new Nigerian galvanizing operation and Wedge Galvanizing have purchased two 10 tonne double girder cranes for their Worksop plant in the UK.  Both projects will be delivered before the year end and have a combined value of over £300,000.   The two orders underpin Street Crane’s expertise in the supply of electric overhead travelling cranes (EOTC’s) to the worldwide metal treatment market.

Dorman Long is the largest fabricator of process equipment, pressure vessels and steelwork in Nigeria and principal supplier to the oil and gas sector and construction industry.  Their order is for three overhead gantry cranes, each of five tonnes safe working load and two semi-goliath cranes, each with twin hoists of five tonnes safe working load.  These are engineered for demanding and continuous use in a hot and dusty environment.  They are destined for new galvanizing plant with an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes.  

This is the first major hot-dip galvanizing plant in Nigeria.  It is being built to support an initiative by the Nigerian government to develop local engineering capacity for the energy and construction industries.  The galvanizing plant is just one part of a major expansion of Dorman Long’s Nigerian operations.

“Street was one of three companies tendering for the business. We were impressed that they offered cranes specially engineered to meet our needs and appropriate to the process environment, rather than standard cranes that would not have suited the process or operating conditions,” explained Michael Hamilton of Dorman Long. 

For production flexibility, the overhead cranes are configured to operate in pairs, though they can be used singly for lighter loads.   Street Crane will supply the designs and the electro-mechanical components from the UK.  The heavy structural elements will be fabricated in Nigeria by Dorman Long Engineering to Street’s specifications.  In addition to making the Street Crane package more competitive, in-country fabrication of the crane steelwork benefits the Nigerian economy by saving foreign currency and creating more skilled work locally.  

At Worksop, where Wedge operates the longest galvanizing bath in Europe, the company is upgrading crane equipment to improve throughput.  The new cranes, each double girder with ten tonne safe working load hoists, will be used in the pre-treatment bay for sequential de-greasing, rinsing and fluxing of both components and large structures prior to hot-dip galvanizing. 

Street Crane’s sales manager, Gus Zona, explained, “Overhead cranes are crucial to the galvanizing process.  They need to withstand continuous heavy usage in a demanding environment and yet provide flexibility.  In the preparation areas, smaller building components or large structural steel elements are chemically treated by dipping prior to Galvanizing.  To achieve the required results, load lowering and raising speeds need to be finely controlled.  This ensures that the steel is exposed for the correct time before moving to the next process.”

To meet these technical requirements, Street Crane has provided overhead cranes with two-speed operation, using VX series open barrel wire-rope hoists.  These hoists contribute to safety and efficiency by providing a truly vertical lift.  Appropriately rated motors have been installed to meet differing speed demands.  Crane controls are housed in IP55 enclosures and electrical wiring is in non-PVC sheathed cable to withstand the adverse site conditions. 	 


More Information 
Gus Zona, Tel. +44 (0)1298 812456 Fax. +44 (0)1298 814 945
Street Crane Company, Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, SK23 0PH, UK
E-Mail: admin@streetcrane.co.uk Web: www.streetcrane.co.uk

High/low resolution images are on the web at www.ainsmag.co.uk/st165/4404st1a.htm

August 23, 2007