Invest in the Best for High Risk Moves
By Rafael de los Santos
I remember once at a conference in Amsterdam hosted by KHL, I had breakfast with the then-CEO of one of the largest companies in our industry: Mammoet. We talked about many subjects and it was only with hindsight that I realized the importance of our conversation.
He told me one of the biggest and best kept secrets in our industry: “We are in the business of managing risk,” he said. “Our customers pay us for decreasing their risk at the best price they can get.”
That conversation happened seven years ago and I still remember his words very clearly. He was right; we get jobs not because we are the cheapest or the fastest – or the prettiest. We get our work because a customer is willing to take
the risk and assign us a job for the best possible price they can get.
Another good friend once told me: “In a project you can always solve a problem if you have enough time, or enough money. If you do not have either of those, then you are in big trouble.” That is another great phrase to remember.
When thinking about rigging in the projects sector, we tend to believe that the job is almost done. These are cargoes perhaps 1,000,000 lbs. in weight that have moved for hundreds of miles. If anything could go wrong, isn’t it more likely to happen on the longer transportation part of the move rather than the comparatively shorter rigging part? No! While I do not have data to support this view, I am pretty sure that statistically speaking rigging is much more risky than transportation. In the rigging phase you have your customer’s valuable cargo literally up in the air, sometimes for hours at a time until it can be safely placed on its foundation.
Up in the Air
In the aerospace industry, take-off and landing are known to be the critical phases where statistically the chances of a problem are higher. Once in the air, the plane is in a “constant” environment with fewer unknowns. During take-off and landing, planes are vulnerable to strong winds, birds, drones, and more. The same is true in our industry: hence, the rigging phase is without doubt the part where we are most vulnerable to accidents.
I’ll admit that today I am surprised how expensive gantry cranes are. As a finance guy, I have a hard time justifying new investments like this to our Board. However, when you see the value of the whole project, this type of investment is absolutely necessary for the successful and safe execution of the project. Nothing should be more important than safety, absolutely nothing.
That said, having the best, state-of-the-art rigging equipment is worthless if you do not have the right crew and the right engineering plan to handle a multimillion-dollar piece. You must have the best crew and the best engineering department your money can pay for.
With the safest gantry crane, a highly trained crew, and an excellent engineering department the customer can justifiably trust you to take good care of their valuable cargo.
In short, if money is not a problem, invest in new equipment, hire the best crew, and support state of the art engineering. If you have limited cash, invest the time in getting the best equipment, develop and train your own crew, and create the best engineering department possible.
With these building blocks securing project work will be easy. The hard part will be managing all the work you likely will get, but that’s not such a bad problem to have.
Rafael de los Santos is a board member of the Specialized Carriers and Rigging
Association (SC&RA).
Credit: Shutterstock
