A few weeks ago the SSN recycleteam visited Tilbury (UK) to see if this heavy piece of steel could be transported towards its destination in ‘s-Gravendeel. Logistically speaking a nightmare as SSN spokesman Gerben Snoek stated “The Botlekbridge located in Spijkenisse has a maximum passage of 45 meters high. With 42 meters this was a tight fit.” He also added laughing that they had recycled coal cranes before but never one that was quite this big. “This is not a routine job”

SSN took the job and collaborated with a company specialised in logistics to transport the giant cranes towards the harbour of Rotterdam. Every massive crane then got dissasembled on SSN docks. “The first few days had a lot of wind so we weren’t able to work as high as we wanted. So we are counting on two weeks dissambling time per crane.” said Snoek who also partially owns the Dutch Harbour company next door. “Sometimes we store cranes and ships there if we don’t have the space for it right away. Ofcourse we pay rent for it.”

With a scrapper you think demolition, but dissasembling means an accurate and careful aproach. Snoek: “Every construction is made to stay upright in its own special way. This has to stay that way for as long as ppossible. You don’t want it to collapse halfway through a process”.

Next to scrapping SSN also recycles every part. Snoek: “The value of raw materials is very important to us. These cranes get dissasembled into smaller pieces and transported to a company which in its turn recycles it further. Iron goes into a smelting furnace and re-used into every day products that we as consumers have. Concrete gets recycled as well and usually for road construction.”