PREMIERE: EPSILON Recycling Cranes in the Sultanate of Oman

In spring 2018, for the first time in the history of PALFINGER EPSILON, two EPSILON Q170L97 cranes for container and recycling use departed on the long voyage to the Sultanate of Oman. It is no coincidence that the company Muscat Steel Melting Company LLC decided on two EPSILON cranes. Through the recommendation of the branch with the same name in Jordan, it was clear to Muscat Steel Melting Company LLC that EPSILON recycling cranes needed to be deployed in the Sultanate of Oman for traditional scrap recycling right away.

From Elsbethen (Austria) to the Sultanate of Oman

But before the recycling cranes from Gorica Vehicles LLC could be delivered to Muscat Steel Melting Company LLC, the EPSILON cranes needed to cover a distance of 9,000 km across land and water.

The starting point of the journey: Elsbethen, company headquarters and production facility of PALFINGER EPSILON. To get closer to the destination of Oman, the cranes must leave their trusted environment in the middle of the landscape characterised by mountains and lakes and proceed towards the Slovenian port city of Koper 370 km away. After a four-hour truck journey through the Alpine country, the sea is finally in view and the adventure begins. The cranes are loaded onto a 300-metre-long and 40-metre-wide container ship amongst 6,000 other containers. The cargo ship sets sail under the flag of Singapore to drop anchor at its first stopover in Malta Freeport, one of the busiest ports in Europe.

To be able to board the voyage to across the 193 km long Suez Canal to Jebel Ali, the world’s largest man-made port, located close to Dubai, the cranes are loaded onto a larger cargo ship with 8,100 containers. Now under the flag of the United Kingdom, the container ship heads across the Mediterranean to the harbour of Port Said in Egypt.

The passage through the most important and most frequented waterway in the world takes around nine hours. After covering thousands of nautical miles, the cranes travel one last time from the port town of Jebel Ali through the desert to Suhar in the Sultanate of Oman, and the journey is now at an end. The Epsilon cranes have arrived.

Strong and robust – the EPSILON Q170L97 being used under the palm trees

After a total of 35 days travelling across land and sea, the two EPSILON Q170L97 cranes are now being used by the company Muscat Steel Melting Company LLC. The mission of the cranes: to manipulate recycling material.

The work with the recyclable materials presents challenges both to people and to machines. Long working schedules of up to eight hours, multiple-shift operations and extreme heat, as is the case in Suhar, pushes many cranes to their limits. For this reason, the EPSILON recycling cranes were designed to withstand these harsh conditions and provide maximum support to the crane operators in their daily work.

With a reach of 9.7 metres, the 17-metre-tonne crane extends the working radius, which means that the crane operator does not constantly have to reposition the truck to be able to load the large and heavy scrap parts. Not only strong but also robust; the EPSILON Q170L97 also withstands these environmental conditions. The hoses are protected from various scrap materials by the hose guide located on the inside. The innovative KTL process engineering (cathodic dip painting) ensures long-lasting surface protection. With this innovative surface coating technology, PALFINGER obtains a standard of quality that is otherwise only common in the automotive industry.

From Alpine country to desert sands – the EPSILON recycling cranes traverse thousands of kilometres and several continents to overcome each challenge together with the crane operators, whatever it may be.