A Somali Buyer Comes to the Plant

Yesterday we hosted a customer from Somalia who runs a construction and heavy haulage business out of Mogadishu. He had been comparing crane trucks for a few months and came to the factory to settle the specification face to face instead of over email. The trip was about one truck that had been on his list for a long time, the SHACMAN X3000 8x4 with a 20-ton straight boom crane, plus the spare parts his workshop would need to keep it running.

Why the 8x4 X3000 straight boom crane

His work is a mix of building sites, bridge sections and port lifting, so he needed a chassis that could carry the crane and the load without straining, and a boom that could reach over obstacles. An 8x4 gives him the axle capacity, and the X3000 cab and driveline are already familiar to his drivers. A straight boom was his preference over a folding one because he mostly lifts straight up and out, not around corners.

We also talked about the roads he works on. Some of them are rough and unpaved, so the frame and suspension need to take a beating. That pushed the specification toward a reinforced chassis rather than the lightest option available.

The configuration we worked through

Truck parts on the same order

He did not want to order the truck on its own. Repairs in his region take time when a part has to be flown in, so we went through a list of fast moving items and set up a first stock pack to ship with the truck.

• Filters, brake pads and wheel hub seals for routine service
• Clutch and brake system parts for the X3000 driveline
• Crane hydraulic seals, hoses and fittings
• A set of lighting and electrical spares

How the visit went For us, visits like this are the useful ones. Sitting with a customer over a specification sheet catches the details that get lost in a long email thread, and it means the truck arrives in his yard already set up for the way he actually works.

If you are planning a crane truck, or a mixed order of trucks and spare parts, send us your working conditions and the loads you lift and we will put a specification together for you.