Heavy going: NXGen boss sees growth in specialist re-rentals market

Who do you call if you need to move a large and unusual load like a heavy electrical substation transformer or part of an oil rig to a new location?

You would probably contact an heavy lift specialist or freight forwarder and get them to help. But who do they turn to when they need extra equipment?

Welcome to the rarely publicised world of re-rental heavy lifting  – the companies on which the specialists rely to send out extra equipment when they don’t have enough.

The transformes in transit. Photo: NXGen

Netherlands-based NXGen is one of this small and highly sought after industry, which also includes players such as Schaften Cranes, Bigge and Maxim Crane Works.

It runs a fleet of self propelled modular transporter  (SPMT) – long trains of multi-axle trailer like vehicles designed to carry heavy loads – as well as cranes which it supplies for heavy lifting and transport jobs all over the world.

Russ Jones, group managing director, is former director at UK-based heavy lifting and transport specialist ALE Group, which was acquired by Mammoet in 2020.

After initially leaving the industry to pursue other opportunities, Jones says he missed the heavy lift sector too much to stay away and set up the business with some former colleagues.

“It’s such a small world. Everybody knows everybody,” he says. “You work in the sector for twenty years and actually all your friend base is in the industry.”

Niche in the market

“We could see a niche in the market in Europe to fill in for the bigger companies where they are short at peak times,” he tells Alex Dahm. “One day someone might want a power pack [unit for an SPMT) or they might want 60 [SPMT] axles for three months. We cater for all.”

NXGen runs a fleet of Scheuerle SPMT and auxiliary equipment such as power pack units, winches and ballast pumps, which it bases at its hub in Breda, Netherlands, and rents out on a short-term basis.

The company also has a fleet of crawler cranes, rough terrain cranes and telecrawler cranes which it leases out on a long-term bases from its US base in Texas. And the company also has bases in Singapore and the UK where it runs an engineering business assisting customers with lift studies or writing RFQs for major heavy lifting projects.

NXGen says it differs from other bare lease firms because it is able to also supply operators if necessary as well as rental equipment.

The transformers in transit. Photo: NXGen

“There is a huge demand for equipment in the market. More and more, we’re seeing that customers want flexibility,” Jones says. “So rather than going down the traditional sourcing route, many of them have bought their own trailers and need support with personnel only or just maintenance and additional equipment.”

One of NXGen most recent projects was helping freight forwarding firm UTC to transport four huge transformers, due to be part of Poland’s first offshore windfarm, from port to their final destination at an onshore substation near the village of Choczewo in rural Poland.

The huge transformers, each weighing 354 metric tonnes, had to be unloaded from port and then moved 46 kilometres along small country roads to eventually increase the voltage of the electricity generated by the Baltic Power offshore wind farm for use in the Polish national grid.

Moreover, the team only had a short interval between the time the transformers arrived at port and the time they needed to be delivered to the substation. And, due to the size of the transformers, they could only be moved at night.

Baltic Power transformer delivery

“Using the extensive knowledge and experience within our team, we engineered a solution to utilise two 14 axle SPMTs in three file configuration. Not only is this a fairly unusual combination, but we also had a very limited mobilisation window, so we had to design the solution, build the equipment and be ready at the port within a short time period,” says Jones.

The first transport operation took place over three consecutive nights, with a day shift also in place to prepare and refuel for the journey the following night. Once the first two transformers were successfully delivered to site, the operation was repeated for the remaining two components.

The Baltic Power offshore wind farm, a joint venture between Polish energy company Orlen and Canada-based Northland Power is scheduled to come onstream in 2026 and is set to be one of the first farms in the world with wind turbines with a capacity of 15 megawatts each.

And projects like this are just the beginning, Jones says.

Back in the NXGen offices in the UK, he points out that customer demand is increasing from a variety of industries as technology continues to change.

“If you look at where our equipment is working, it’s oil and gas, renewables, the microchip industry, civil projects – it’s very varied you know. There’s a lot of work in each of those, that’s for sure.”