Durham Lifting supports new chapter for historic shipyard site.
We are supporting the return to operation of the historic Pallion Shipyard in Sunderland, providing specialist lifting equipment, crane servicing and technical expertise as industrial activity returns to the site.
We are proud to be supporting the return to operation of the historic Pallion Shipyard in Sunderland, providing specialist lifting equipment and servicing expertise as activity once again returns to a site with a significant industrial and shipbuilding heritage.
The former shipyard is now being used to store significant volumes of specialist beams, with three full lines of beams arriving at Pallion before being prepared for onward movement.
Supporting an operation of this scale requires lifting infrastructure that is safe, compliant and ready for the demands being placed upon it. This is where our Service Division has played an important role.
Bringing Pallion Shipyard back into operation.
Central to the operation are two existing cranes within the historic shipyard building.
Following a significant period of downtime at the facility, the cranes had not been operating under the demands now being placed upon them. Bringing the building back into active industrial use therefore required more than simply switching the equipment back on.
Our Service Division has worked with Colin and the team at Pallion to assess the existing crane infrastructure and carry out the servicing, maintenance and remedial work required to bring the cranes back to their current operational condition.
Our involvement has helped ensure the equipment is safe, compliant and capable of supporting the lifting activity now taking place within the facility.
We have also supplied lifting equipment used for handling pipes, beams and other materials within the building, supporting the wider operation as activity at Pallion continues to develop.
For us, the project demonstrates the role our Service Division can play when businesses are bringing existing lifting infrastructure back into operation.
Rather than simply supplying individual pieces of equipment, our team can assess what is already in place, identify servicing or remedial requirements and provide the ongoing technical support needed to help customers operate safely and efficiently.
That expertise is backed by more than 25 years of experience within the lifting industry.
From thousands of workers to a new generation of industry.
The scale of the building provides a reminder of what the site would once have looked like.
At its height, thousands of people would have worked across the wider site, with vessels, cranes and heavy engineering forming part of everyday operations.
Today, seeing the cranes operating and materials moving through the building again has particular significance for our Director Amanda Gardiner, whose own connection with Pallion stretches back to the beginning of her working career.
“This was actually the first site visit I ever came on during my working career. My dad brought me here and I remember walking into the building when it was full of men working.”
“To come back now and see it operational again is fantastic. A building of this size and structure was built for industry, and seeing the cranes working and activity coming back into it is something special.”
Amanda Gardiner · Director, Durham Lifting
Returning to Pallion decades later, this time with our team playing a role in bringing its lifting infrastructure back into operation, makes the project particularly significant.
Colin’s career in transport and logistics.
Colin’s career began at just 15 years old when his father signed a contract for him to start with Foden Trucks.
After initially training as a mechanic, he progressed into supervisory positions before deciding he wanted to experience another side of the transport industry and moving into truck driving.
That eventually led him back to college to complete his CPC qualification and begin a career in transport management.
Roles with Interlink and Magnet Kitchens followed, before Colin joined LV Shipping, where he would spend approximately 29 years progressing from Transport Office Manager through to Associate Board Member and ultimately a full Board Member, with responsibility across the company’s northern operations.
His extensive background in transport, logistics and shipping has given him a strong understanding of the scale and coordination required for an operation such as Pallion.
Having initially expected retirement to mean spending more time with his classic and project cars, becoming involved in the site’s revival has instead given him another major project to focus on.
“The place has grown on me, and so have the people.”
“To see what they’re trying to achieve here and to see a site like this being brought back to life, it’s great to be part of it.”
Colin
Proud to play a part.
For us, supporting Colin and the team is about much more than supplying equipment.
After an extended period of downtime at the facility, the project has required the knowledge and experience to understand the condition of the existing cranes, identify what was required and support their return to operational use.
Through our Service Division, we have been able to provide the servicing, maintenance and technical expertise behind the lifts themselves, helping ensure lifting activity is undertaken safely and in accordance with the required standards.
Combined with our lifting equipment supply and wider engineering capability, it means we can support customers throughout the process, from assessing existing infrastructure through to servicing equipment and supplying the lifting accessories required for the operation.
There is an added significance in seeing that expertise being used within a building that has played its own part in the North East’s engineering history.
As materials continue to arrive and operations develop, the project represents both a new use for the site and a continuation of what the building was created for, heavy industry, engineering and lifting on a significant scale.
For Amanda, returning to the location of her first ever site visit and seeing industry operating within the building again brings things full circle.
For us at Durham Lifting, it represents another opportunity to use decades of lifting expertise to help bring an important piece of North East industrial heritage back into productive use.
Keeping lifting equipment operational.
From crane servicing and maintenance to inspections, repairs and lifting equipment supply, our team helps businesses keep their lifting operations safe, compliant and productive.