“In most cases, the customer must compare the refurbishment cost and the time it will take to pay back versus purchasing new equipment.”

Gottwald’s Mr Klein adds that there is very real possibility of making a return in the short term, but this depends strongly on the number of operating hours the crane is going to log and on the exact application it is being used for.“It is difficult to make a blanket assertion that a business case can be made for the upgrading of any of our company’s cranes, irrespective of age. Indeed, any  upgrade needs to be evaluated very
carefully and on a case by case basis,” says Mr Klein.

Mr Doornewaard agrees that not all equipment can be economically upgraded, stressing that attempting to modernise a 30-year old crane is simply not feasible.

“In some cases we find that the delivery time of a refurbishment competes successfully with a new equipment erection project,” Mr Doornewaard adds.