To mark its 20th anniversary, Stoddart Crane Hire gave itself a special gift: just in time for its planned summer celebrations, the Scottish crane service provider put a new Liebherr LTM 1150-5.3 mobile crane into operation. The family-run business, based in Muir of Ord, west of Inverness and about 10 kilometres from the famous Loch Ness, has made a name for itself as a crane service provider on Scotland's islands, among other areas.
"Besides the Highlands, the islands off the Scottish coast are a major part of our large operating area," says Ewan Stoddart, who runs the company alongside his sister Kerri and his father David. "We’ve done jobs with our mobile cranes on most of the inhabited islands here, and we usually have one or more cranes in operation on the islands." Often, due to a lack of alternatives, the cranes and heavy transporters need to be transported to the islands by landing craft, which is always a major logistical challenge. Currently, Stoddart's LTM 1040-2.1 and LTM 1090-4.2 are in operation on the Shetland Islands. "On Unst, Scotland's northernmost inhabited island, about 400 kilometres away, we're currently building a new launch ramp for the local spaceport. Our new LTM 1150-5.3 has already been deployed in this island group as well," says Ewan Stoddart.
"A key factor in acquiring the new 150-tonne mobile crane was the ability to drive it on public roads with a 10-tonne axle load. This is often a requirement en route to our customers," explains Stoddart. "The narrow roads here in the Highlands and on the islands frequently cause us problems, but we can usually manage thanks to the flexible ballast configurations on Liebherr cranes. This flexibility is also a major advantage on the ferries that transport us to the islands."
"Another key advantage of the new crane is that it can carry an impressive 29 tonnes of ballast, reducing the need to transport additional ballast," says Ewan Stoddart. "Not having to deliver additional ballast blocks by truck means significant cost savings for us and our customers."
Stoddart Crane Hire presented its new addition to a large group of customers and guests during the company's anniversary celebrations this summer. The family business, founded by Ewan's father David 20 years ago, employs 34 people and currently operates seven smaller crawler cranes, along with a fleet of 14 mobile cranes, which will gradually be replaced exclusively with Liebherr models. In the last three years alone, six LTM cranes have been added to Stoddart's fleet. Its most powerful crane is the LTM 1230-5.1.
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