The joys of secondhand lifts

Last January a major remodelling of the port was announced following the municipality taking over its operations. The project includes increasing the number of moorings to 1,800 (double the current number) and an investment of €67 million.

However, Benalmádena could not simply sit back until the money to purchase new machinery came through: this would take a couple of years – and in order to keep the facility running it required an urgent solution to its decaying, 1980’s GH travelift.

So, Benalmádena approached Almarin, who sourced a used 50 BFM (2001) travelift from stock as a provisional solution. One reason this makes good sense is that, as Almarin points out, Marine Travelift hoists do tend to retain their value – minimising loss to depreciation “and making the machine easily sellable one, two or three years down the road”. Further, this particular unit was in excellent condition because its previous owner had kept it indoors and not worked the machine intensely.

The hoist is equipped with a Ford GF300 petrol engine which makes for very quiet running. Originally set up with a high, 28ft inside clear height and limited to 35 tonnes, Benalmádena opted to have the hoist’s column extensions removed by Almarin and the machine reconfigured to its original 50 tonne capacity.

Further, as part of a complete turnkey service, Almarin installed the new machine as well as dismantling and removing the old machine.

Putting a used unit in place makes more sense than a new one in many cases, says Almarin, such as when short lead times are required or when a low capital intensive solution is the best option to test a new business model.

The Barcelona based company has a number of strings to its bow as it manufactures, distributes and supplies industrial equipment for specific applications such as aids to navigation, obstruction lighting, boat handling and dry storage, as well as industrial gantries.