The innocent term "slewing ring" is associated by staff of Otto Haalboom Internationale Spedition with a story that shows how a haulage firm can solve the most "offbeat" of problems in a simple fashion.
It was an irreparable slewing ring that shut down a Liebherr P995 excavator in Yuzhny, Ukraine. The customer had been using it there for work on a quay. Time is money. So then? How does one get an excavator back in shape as fast as possible?
The order for the transport of a new slewing ring was received at Haalboom on 5 November 2007. Just two days later, on 7 November, the slewing ring was already ready to be collected in Colmar, France.
It soon emerged that such a slewing ring weighing 6,000 kg could only be transported in a box measuring 4 x 4 metres with a height of 70 cm. Being too high and too wide, it was just the size requiring a special permit for the transport. The customer would have had to wait two to three weeks for such an exceptional permit for Haalboom to have been able to carry out the transport.
Definitely too long. A fast and yet solid solution to the problem had to be found. In other words, a Haalboom solution!
Off went the slewing ring box onto a quickly locat-ed special-purpose lorry that was able to transport the box at an incline so that the overall height remained under four metres, and the width under three metres.
After arrangements and examination by Liebherr as to whether inclined loading was possible, the permit required was speedily issued. For Otto Haalboom Internationale Spedition with its perfectly oiled logistics, it was then just a simple matter to contract a suitable lorry with the right equipment from a hauler.
On 7 November the special lorry left on schedule from Colmar, arriving in Yuzhny in just a few days on 12 November.
Problem solved!
Being a successful troubleshooter is not a title but rather a passion that one practices with much experience, creativity and skill.
Precisely that is what makes Otto Haalboom Internationale Spedition so unique.