Combilift, the largest global manufacturer of multidirectional, articulated forklifts and straddle carriers, has announced its move into the offshore wind sector with the launch of a new product designed to meet the load handling demands of large scale offshore wind manufacturers.
As the green energy sector sees a surge in larger wind turbine components, including towers and blades, Combilift joined forces with industry leaders to engineer safe, stable, efficient lifting and storage solutions across its supply chain.
The Combi-LC, designed at Combilift’s HQ and manufacturing plant in Ireland, in collaboration with Siemens Gamesa, allows for the movement of wind turbine blades and towers, some as long as 115m and weighing in at around 70 tons, through production stages and on to storage locations, which can sometimes be as far as 5km apart.
The concept of bespoke Load Carriers (patent pending design) is based on two fully customizable remote-control units with low-level chassis beds that can work in tandem master and slave operation, with dimensions and wheel configurations that vary according to load type and weight.
Siemens Gamesa, one of the world’s largest offshore wind suppliers, has become the first company to leverage the new technology by signing a multi-million order for a number of the bespoke Load Carriers, and Combilift is in active discussions with other offshore wind companies with similar demands.
Combilift expects to generate more than €50m in revenue per year in this market segment by 2026.
“We are thrilled to have launched this new product, the Combi-LC, and we hope it will act as a gateway for us to further progress within our venture into the wind energy sector. The scale of offshore wind projects around the world leads to a very unique set of challenges, one of which being the ability to transport the very large components that make up a wind turbine. We recognized this and used our expertise in load handling to develop a solution to support those in the industry. The product is specifically made to order and therefore can be uniquely customized to fit specific applications,” said Josh Moffett, heavy equipment manager at Combilift.
“Over the past 25 years, Combilift has made a very important impact to the Irish economy. Combilift is a visionary company in every sense and I’m delighted that the Irish government, through Enterprise Ireland, has supported Combilift through its incredible 25-year journey,” said Heather Humphreys, minister for rural and community development.
MORE INFO https://combilift.com/combi-LC
