Company Announcement - The incorporation of SA French and Elephant Lifting Equipment under the umbrella brand of Torre Lifting Solutions, combined with the extensive distribution network of the Torre Industries Group, will allow the company to offer a total lifting solution to its customers in South Africa and across the continent. Covering the full spectrum of lifting equipment, from consumables to tower cranes and electric overhead cranes, means that SA French and Elephant Lifting Equipment are well positioned to undertake heavy lifting tasks. Operating in this sector requires a strategic combination of suitable products and well-honed knowledge and skills to allow optimum product selection for the provision of application-specific lifting solutions.

The market in Africa requires a blend of standard products and specialised bespoke lifting solutions. Typical off-the-shelf products being supplied into Africa include chain blocks, lever blocks, webbing slings and chain slings, which would be used for maintenance and new installations. This type of lifting equipment is quite basic and does not require any specialised input from the supplier.

“On the other side of the scale, where heavy machinery is being lifted into position or large sections of a structure need to be erected, it would be necessary to provide a custom solution. In this instance the technically adept lifting solutions provider would work collaboratively with the riggers to ensure that the equipment being used to perform the lift is legally compliant, safety compliant and fit to undertake the task,” Elephant Lifting Equipment managing director, Grant Walton, says.

One of the newest additions to the Elephant Lifting Equipment range is an ultra-compact steel wire rope hoist which is suitable for lifting in areas where height restrictions or confined spaces are an issue. “This lightweight hoist’s design allows it to be run on a smaller beam, without compromising any of its lifting capacity. In the past, close-couple hoists were used but they were impractical and also provided limited additional headroom,” Walton points out. Elephant Lifting Equipment’s engineering team has in-depth experience across a wide range of custom lifting projects including participation at Medupi and Kusile power stations and mines in Africa from the Copperbelt region in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, up to the gold mines in West Africa.

Involvement in a number of African countries is through either a network of strategically situated local distributors and agents, through South African based project houses or through EPCMs and end users who purchase products directly from Elephant Lifting. “Some market sectors, such as the oil and gas sector, require above average technical support and services. In these instances, Elephant Lifting Equipment would establish a branch in close proximity to the customer, such as the one in Pemba,” says Walton.

For many years SA French’s Potain cranes have been a constant presence across African skylines, both in the built environment as well as on mines. The ability to assess the requirements for a particular construction project, supply and erect the most appropriate tower crane solution, whilst adhering to safety and other statutory regulations, has resulted in a large African footprint for the company. Quentin van Breda, executive chairman of SA French, says that enabling each site where the company’s tower cranes are operational to be as independent as possible often involves the transfer of technical and maintenance skills to the local companies, commonly at the time of commissioning of the crane.
“Generally, the tower crane ranges used in Africa are similar to those selected in South Africa, from a 1 ton lifting capacity at 50 metre radius, right up to 10.6 ton capacity at 80 metres radius. The entire spectrum of tower cranes is used, with heavy capacity cranes proving popular on mines because of the size of the machinery and components being used in beneficiation plants.”

He says that in Africa there are still many suitable lifting applications where tower cranes are not being utilised. “This is not to say that a tower crane is necessarily superior to a mobile crane, as each has its specific market sectors. However, we do distinctly see that tower cranes are being underutilised in general industrial applications,” van Breda says.

He adds that operating in Africa involves an understanding of the logistical challenges, which include the remoteness of some project sites and the fact that each country has completely different cultural and business needs. The ability to adapt to each application is critical to successful implementation of projects.