[Jeroen]

I have always been fascinated by cranes, trucks, low loaders, etc. BIG machinery moving inane objects. One of the BIG names in heavy lifting and transport is the Dutch company Mammoet (Mammoth). One of the BIGGEST companies, if not the BIGGEST, in the world in this field.

Their headquarters is in Vlaardingen, within walking distance from where our two sons live. https://www.mammoet.com

Their Headquarters is shaped in the form of a bolder. It is situated on a massive terrain along the Nieuwe Waterweg just west of Rotterdam. Always lots to see and it is used as a staging area for their cranes and sometimes special built projects.



Mammoet became more or less a household name in 2000 with the salvage of the Kurks. The Russian nuclear submarine disaster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster



Interestingly, Mammoet had no experience in salvage at all. It was the Dutch Salvage company Smit that came up with the actual plan and a lot of the vessels involved. But it was Mammoet who came up with the lifting mechanism. They were the only company in the world that wanted to take this project on a no cure no pay basis. Very ballsey, and they pulled it off. Good for them.

Recently I came to know that they have a model store. It is located at their Headquarters and they have a very impressive website as well: https://store.mammoet.com/

I visited the store a few days ago, whilst on my way to see my boys.

The store offers all kinds of Mammoet merchandise. It is very nicely laid out. As you will see, anything from (safety) wear, to key rings, hoodies, caps and so on.



Of course, there is a wide range of Mammoet kiddie toys:



There is even a (virtual Reality) Crane simulator!



But most of the space is taken up by huge display cabinets, showing all these magnificent Mammoet scale models. Sorry some of the images are not that great. I had to shoot through the glass of the display cabinets with my iPhone.

The largest and most expensive model I saw, taller than me! Euro 1700





Display cabinets everywhere with magnificent models!



I have always fancied these trucks. Very butch looking.







All these models are produced specifically for Mammoet. A lot of these models can be bought from the model manufacturer in different colours/livery. But especially some of the real life cranes are more or less one-offs. Mammoet does a lot of its own design on some of this equipment and partners up with the large crane manufacturers of this world. Eg. Liebherr.











This scene could be taken from anywhere in the Netherlands. Wind mills are going up at an astonishing rate and companies like Mamoet have developed special equipment to transport and install these massive windmills. The sails on some of these things can be more than 100 meters!











This is a miniature depiction of a recent Mammoet job where they lifted an old windjammer.



Look at the detailing on this crane!!





More cranes:

[Jeroen]

Love these huge crawler cranes!



More cranes and stuff





You enter the shop through here, one side is all display cabinets with models on the other side are all these posters. Depicting some of the highlights of the Mammoet history.

























Notice one of the posters mentioning the SPMT (Self Propelled Modular Transport). Mammoet invented them and pioneered them. They have a model of it, of course:



If you have never heard of an SPMT, have a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL3YvOe0ZgE

Some of the other merchandise available to you when you visit their store or website.

How about this nifty Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a massive crane hook?



Lots of key rings etc.



And more cranes and trucks:







You can also buy sets of figures (crew) and all these hoisting materials, including spreaders.







Mammoet has also been involved in the Dakar Rallies of the past. So they have a complete lineup of all their Rally vehicles as well



Me and my credit card was put under constant "buying pressure". But I am pleased and sorry to say, I did not purchase anything. I did get a (free) copy of their excellent catalogue, I can share with my boys and grandson Ben.

I have a very small collection of model cars. I do have two of these very special heavy haul trucks. As you would expect from someone like me, mine are vintage ones!



If you look closely at the first poster, it mentions the name Goedkoop. They were a well-known family of entrepreneurs in Amsterdam. They built a huge transport empire in the 50s-70s. If you follow my other threads you might have come across me mentioning them a few times. I worked as a deckhand on one of their harbour tugs in Amsterdam, whilst going through naval college in Amsterdam. The famous Dutch tug "Happy Hunter", shown in some of my other model building threads, was part of the Goedkoop empire.

Jeroen

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[NomadSK]

Thanks for sharing. I have never seen them in miniature avatar. These are our super heavy lift vendors, I have seen them installing and picking some crazy stuff be it on sea or on land. We call them as ODC, over dimensional cargo.

At times they have even installed huge 90/100m steel reactors in an operational facility with zero clear of sight. Amazing precision engineering while holding such critical heavy lifts with near zero incidences.

No doubt they charge in tons. Mostly in red, probably saying stay away we are doing some serious business !!

[karikaalan]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

Thanks for sharing. I have never seen them in miniature avatar. These are our super heavy lift vendors, I have seen them installing and picking some crazy stuff be it on sea or on land. We call them as ODC, over dimensional cargo.

At times they have even installed huge 90/100m steel reactors in an operational facility with zero clear of sight. Amazing precision engineering while holding such critical heavy lifts with near zero incidences.

No doubt they charge in tons. Mostly in red, probably saying stay away we are doing some serious business !!

Attachment 2735663

Attachment 2735664

I started my career with a ODC Logistics company but which was mainly into land transportation/shipping but not into installation. I believe the equipment in your post are SPMTs - Self Propelled Modular Trailers, so the powerpack precisely controls the hydraulics and maintains center of gravity. SPMT's are used when cargo weight exceeds 400/500MT, critical high center of gravity and mostly for short haul. Each line or axle of SPMT can handle loads upto a whooping 60 Metric Tonnes! They come in modules of 2,4,5,6 or 8 axles so based on the project they can form different combinations



The image above is long haul transportation of a 400MT Stator (heart of a power plant), the red structure in the center is a Girder Bridge - it shares the load to a wider area so infrastructure will not be damaged. Even then the cargo is not allowed on most regular bridges. The Cargo is attached to a Goldhofer 18+18 Hydraulic Modular Trailer with rated load of 45MT/axle and pulled by two VOLVO 520s and one Scania 500hp Prime Mover carring 50MT counter weight for traction. The entire setup has a gross weight of over 900MT!!

This project alone took 3 years to complete. Another logistics firm capsized the Stator into the river. Our scope was to take the damaged stator from the power plant (Raigarh I think) to Mumbai, barge the consignment to Mumbai port. Load to ship, Break Bulk Shipment to Japanese port where Toshiba repaired and the same cycle was done in reverse.

PS - I was sitting in the Scania shooting the drone video hehe - full video link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn8-p2l7ue4

, the cargo was

[alpha1]

Love those beastly "mammoth" machines!
Fortunately (yeah, I am looking at the brighter side here) there is metro construction going on just outside our colony gates, and I have spent a few late nights (post 12 am) watching them lift those massive girders and place it delicately and precisely on columns.

Thanks, Jeroen and NomadSK, for the photos. Some of those rekindled decades old memories of working at the oil refinery especially them turnaround days.

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Fortunately (yeah, I am looking at the brighter side here) there is metro construction going on just outside our colony gates, and I have spent a few late nights (post 12 am) watching them lift those massive girders and place it delicately and precisely on columns.

Those are called segmental launchers, beauty is once they are kept on 2 columns initially, they keep moving ahead and complete the horizontal structure laying on bearings, before post tensioning is done. If you can make a time lapse of that, it would be amazing to watch.

We generally make a time lapse for such installations for the management to see. Believe me it's an art work.

Here is the image of the Mammoet & other cranes at one of our projects, during that time it created the scarcity of these heavy lifting cranes across the globe and these were just 10% in the picture. All the vertical vessels/columns gets installed by these gigantic cranes. Best is it takes number of small cranes to install these big ones and generally takes month to complete before they install the equipment in few hours

[maddy42]

Amazing thread. Would love to get one of these cranes as a toy atleast.

Noob question - Does it hurt for the crane operator to be looking down every minute of the day?

Lastly how did they manage to pick the submarine off the sea floor?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Noob question - Does it hurt for the crane operator to be looking down every minute of the day?

You are thinking of tower cranes. On these cranes the operator sits near the base of the crane so is looking up!

On some of these crane the complete operator cabin can tilt upwards, check out one of the models above.

But being a crane operator tends to mostly waiting and waiting some more. Often they can't see their hoist directly. They will need to rely on cameras or instructions by radio from the hoist master.

Originally Posted by maddy42

Lastly how did they manage to pick the submarine off the sea floor?

This video provides an excellent overview. Note it is a Smit promotional video, not a Mamoet. See my earlier comments on this

https://youtu.be/uQJ6IMREvz8?si=IHWDgTrSnoagQfPY

Jeroen

[karikaalan]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

You are thinking of tower cranes. On these cranes the operator sits near the base of the crane so is looking up!

On some of these crane the complete operator cabin can tilt upwards, check out one of the models above.

But being a crane operator tends to mostly waiting and waiting some more. Often they can't see their hoist directly. They will need to rely on cameras or instructions by radio from the hoist master.

Jeroen

@Jeroen Forgot to thank you for the very descriptive post, bought back old memories! If you're still in Europe the World's Largest Expo for Cranes and other heavy lift machinery Bauma 2025, Munich in being held on the first week of April (it only happens every three years). It's open for all visitors, do check it out if you find time! Would be awesome to see all the model equipment in their actual sizes live!!

Another footnote I wanted to add to your original post is that Mammoet, Sarens and Fagioli the big three for ODC cargo are first and foremost the largest fleet owners of cranes and modular trailers/specialized windmill transport equipment for decades (and subsequently engineering). So all the models on display are actually manufactured by various vendors across the globe as per specifications by Mammoet

• Scheureule - the company which developed the original SPMT in the 70's. Self Propelled Trailers were already in use for many years by then for mining, military and space launching systems but the modular design was first developed in collaboration with Mammoet
• Goldhofer - current market leader in long haul heavy transport equipment
• Liebherr, Demag - German crane manufacturers whose models are featured in the original post
• XCMG/Zoomlion/SANY - Chinese manufacturers with similar spec mega cranes for half the cost of the German counterparts, but perhaps not the most reliable
• Enerpac - American firm, market leader for the powering units of SPMT/Jack systems

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by karikaalan

Another footnote I wanted to add to your original post

Thank you

You sir know your crane and heavy transport vehicle!