Under the refurbishment programme, each of the 13 straddles was assessed individually and major repairs identified, prioritised and actioned according to need. Kalmar believes this process provides better value for money than simply renovating each machine according to user guidelines.

Kalmar's contract maintenance manager Jason Smith described the work as preventive maintenance, saying, 'The object of such an exercise is to carry out repairs to these machines before they break down. That way, you avoid disruption to operations caused through having to retrieve a machine from the quayside but hopefully you will also avoid the consequential damage to other components that often occurs when a machine fails in service.'

Each of the 10 year old straddle carriers had done about 20,000 hours, so overhaul of each machine's Volvo engine was the first priority, ensuring they would reliably deliver another 10,000 hours service. TCS had also identified increasing reliability problems with the steering and braking systems so these were also renovated, as were the drive systems.

MJ Information No: 21729