Two new 206,30 lb. (93,500 kg), rubber-tired Sennebogen 870 M material handlers are the centerpiece of a $14 million upgrade program at S. Norton & Co's ship-loading facility in Barking, UK.

Located on the Thames River, the Barking River Port serves vessels linking Greater London to the English Channel and the North Sea. The 870s are mounted on 6 ft. (1.8 m) pylons and fitted with a boom and stick giving it a 79 ft. (24 m) reach, larger outrigger pads for increased stability, and 3-yard 5-tine grabs. The machines also feature the Green Hybrid energy system, utilizing a large central boom cylinder to hydraulically capture "free" energy when the boom is lowered, then use the stored energy to assist each lift cycle.

Michael Duke, site manager of S. Norton's Barking facility, said, "There have been Sennebogen material handlers [835 Specials] on this site for over 12 years, and they have served us very well. The machines were getting up to 20,000 hours, so we knew we had to bring in replacement machines. As part of our overall development program, we needed to go for larger machines to increase throughput, by loading vessels much quicker."

Matt Norton, technical director, continued, "We visited Sennebogen during the build process to inspect and test the machines before they were stripped down for shipping to the UK. The trucks arrived on the Monday, the machines were put together and handed over on Thursday evening the same week and it all ran like clockwork."

For more information, visit www.sennebogen-na.com.