Transport, haulage and storage specialist Eillogistik offers a wide range of services from its base next to the International Port of Rostock on the Baltic Coast. These include express freight, warehousing and the loading and unloading of sea containers. The latest addition to Eillogistik’s fleet is a Combilift Straddle Carrier (Combi-SC), which was acquired to help cope with the growing demand for project shipments from customers in various sectors, particularly in the wind power industry.
MD Marco Broening explains the extent of services: “We can take over the preparation, storage and packing of tools and transport racks which often need to be made available or delivered on a just-in-time basis, and can pack and ship containers directly from our premises. We also accept incoming import containers, unload the contents and if required we can then check the goods and order pick on behalf of the customer.
Eillogistik previously used rented cranes or its own fixed overhead cranes in the warehouse to offload incoming containers from HGVs, but these methods were either very costly or inflexible according to Marco Broening: “Rental costs amounted to €35,000 a year, and that was for just five days operation a month. We also had to exactly synchronise the use of the cranes with the arrival of HGVs and this proved impossible at times. I had seen very large straddle carriers at work in the ports and I thought there must be smaller versions of these available somewhere and when I came across Combilift’s products I knew this was the ideal solution. The permanent availablity of our Combi-SC gives us a much higher level of flexibility which has made a massive difference to our operations. We can now work to our own schedule and have total control over when we offload and this is very beneficial for our clients too.”
The Combi-SC offloads the containers when they arrive on site and places them wherever is convenient. This speeds up handling procedures, removes the need for truck ramps and enables a quicker turnaround with minimal standing and waiting times, whilst also ensuring the safety of the loading personnel. Eillogistik’s model has a 35t capacity and thanks to its telescopic function it can double stack containers for space saving storage and its dimensions also allow it to operate inside the warehouse.
The relative light own weight of around 16t, the resulting low ground pressure and large flotation tyres enable the Combi-SC to work on uneven and poor surfaces without the need for costly ground reinforcement improvement. This a further advantage for Eillogistik, as the combined weight of the container and other heavy handling equipment such as reach trucks would make operation on its unpaved areas impossible.
Marco Broening, “Everyone on the team appreciates the Combi-SC’s manoevrability and its straightforward operation. On reflection we should have got it a lot sooner: we have made massive savings on rental costs for cranes, the investment in the Combi-SC will pay for itself very quickly and it has allowed us to expand our business activities.”
COMBILIFT
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