HEAVY LIFTING
Combilift in Co. Monaghan is one of Ireland’s most successful companies, though outsiders have no idea of the extent of the financial success, as the main operating company is unlimited and is not required to publicly disclose its accounts.
Combilift ownership is vested in an Isle of Man company, though what we can be sure of is that founders Robert Moffett (67) and Martin McVicar (52) are sole directors of the main operating company.
Since 1998, Combilift has evolved from a company making forklifts to much more sophisticated lifting machines. The latest is the Combilift Load-Carrier (Combi-LC), which is designed to meet the load handling demands of large-scale offshore wind manufacturers.
Wind turbine blades are very heavy and can be longer than a football pitch. The Combi-LC allows for the movement of blades and wind turbine towers through production stages, and to storage locations miles away. Combilift says the equipment involves two vehicles working in tandem, communicating and operating simultaneously to secure the load at both ends.
Siemens Gamesa, one of the world’s
largest offshore wind suppliers, recently agreed a sizeable order for the Load-Carriers, and Combilift expects to generate over €50m in annual revenue in this market segment by 2026.
According to Josh Moffett, who, like his father, enjoys rally driving: “The scale of offshore wind projects around the world leads to a unique set of challenges, one of which being the ability to transport the large components that make up a wind turbine. We recognised this and used our expertise in load handling to develop a solution to support those in the industry.”