Established in 1875, Hakkers Staalbouw B.V is a family-owned business based in Werkendam, in the southwest of the Netherlands.

With a workforce of 170, it operates in hydraulic engineering, foundation technology, and steel construction along shorelines. As its customers most often request structures on the water’s edge such as jetties, quays, bridges, retaining walls and building foundations, the company prefabricates its own piles, planks, plates, anchors and other construction materials from steel, concrete and wood.

Hakkers is expanding, and some of its new projects are bigger than ever before. So, at its new main production facility, it needed to invest in lifting equipment that could handle a rapid output of larger and heavier building materials, right on the waterline so that delivery to customer sites would be easy.

Every Hakkers project is different, so the company was interested in machinery that could both simplify the lifting process and provide it with a high level of flexibility.

To meet this challenge, Konecranes delivered seven cranes to Hakkers’ new factory. There were three CXT double girder overhead cranes with true vertical lift: two 80-ton cranes with two 40-ton CXT hoists on each crane and a span of 22.5m to handle construction materials weighing up to 160 tons, and one smaller 16-ton CXT on the same track for lighter loads.

Four 5-ton wall console cranes act as auxiliaries, each extending 10m, with an S-series hoist, synthetic rope and smart features for optimised load handling. All of the cranes are equipped with inverter hoisting, which ensures smooth and safe lifting, and a radio controller, so operators can work at a safe distance from the load.

Hakkers said they are very satisfied with the performance of the Konecranes equipment. Different crane and hoist capacities that can be used alone or in combination have increased the company’s ability to handle a wider range of client projects, and the auxiliary cranes provide the support to accelerate production.

A service agreement, including RailQ, a survey to check runway alignment, has been added. The maintenance contract will help to keep the cranes running smoothly, while safety and productivity is further improved through crane operator training on the new equipment.

Dutch firm boosts expansion efforts with Konecranes cranes