Packaging specialist rises to the challenge

In a massive prepare, protect and pack job, packaging specialist Cratelogic has just finished a four and a half month contract to get a Richards Bay-manufactured gas-toliquid plant ready for export. Cratelogic MD Ryan James agreed that it was “quite a big thing” – and added that it was 18 different modules with an average individual weight of 50 tonnes. “Each of these modules was about 700-cubic metres in size,” he told FTW. “The majority of them comprised pipework and vessels and everything had to be protected before the loading could start. All of it had to be sprayed with a specialised rustpreventative primer; then we had to seal and blank off pipe ends and plastic wrap them.” And, alongside these individual modules of equipment, the company also had to strip off any sensitive parts or units and containerise them separately, after the appropriate contact preservation had been conducted. “This is the fourth similar job we’ve done,” said James. “Previously we’ve crated the units. But this time we didn’t because of the sensitivity of the units and environmental problems at the other end related to the wood used for crating.” The company started the job in June, and, apart from arranged breaks in the work schedule, were on-site for the whole period until end-November. Although Cratelogic is Johannesburg-based, the company can effectively put a work crew on site anywhere in South Africa, said James. “And, for consignments that we can handle here at our head office premises,” he added, “we have a 1 700-m2 warehouse where we can crate, pack and secure cargoes into containers as required.” And the size of any consignment doesn’t matter. Said James: “If we get it, we can pack it – everything from a small picture frame to a 75-ton motor.”