When it comes to cranes and lifting, Ian Roebuck has been there and done that. 2024 sees him celebrate 45 years in the industry. Ian and daughter Tania discuss the history of Ian Roebuck Crane Hire.
Ian began his career as an apprentice mechanic in Taranaki, a small town on the West Coast of New Zealand’s North Island. He worked his way up to be in charge of the garage, before moving to the family business, Roebuck Construction. This move began his love affair with cranes.
“I joined the family business in the mid 60’s and worked there for 14 years. My first experience of owning a crane came when the family business bought a Michigan TLD T20 which was an ex-Ministry of Works machine which we bought as a wreck. It had been underwater for three days before we brought it back to life. It used to lift seven tonne at 30 feet,” said Ian.
Ian decided to venture out on his own in 1979 and bought his first crane, a Grove TMS 180 with a capacity of 18 tonne.
“That crane was assembled in New Zealand on a New Zealand built carrier. I was very lucky, the person I bought it off, he did a deal with me, whereby, I was able to buy the crane and have enough money in the bank to last me three months.
“I drove into town the next morning letting everyone know I was in business. The next day a chap rang to say the local meat works had burnt down three days earlier and so for the first eight months of my life with that crane and business, we worked 7 days a week. Some days I was wheeling concrete, others I was helping the welders and others I was driving the crane, but I was there every day and that’s how the business started.
“It was at that point I recognized we needed a second crane and the same company had a little 12 tonne pedestal crane, so they mounted that on an old Readymix concrete truck and that gave us two cranes,” said Ian.
The business grew in terms of staff and Ian found niches for his business that were very lucrative.
“There was a big oil and gas industry and we found work shifting drilling rigs. We had two cranes on each site and the work was taking up a lot each month. Each rig shift would be every four to six days, so it was quite a lucrative setup. And in between times, I’d bought a new 40 tonne Grove and that’s how it all started,” he said.
Tania explains there are two crane hire businesses operating in Taranaki but Ian has a reputation for taking on the difficult work.
There are two crane companies in town, us and Titans. We are friends and we help each other out but Ian has a reputation for taking on work which needs ‘out of the box’ solutions.
“Where there’s a lot involved, he isn’t scared to take it on and work out the methodology and engineer solutions with lift plans and other tools at his disposal, but mainly through his years of experience,” said Tania.
“There’s an old saying in life and that is, “never worry worry until worry, worries you”. The time to worry is the day before you do the job, too much worry during the preparation beforehand, will see you end up with ulcers and I’ve got to this age ulcer free, I hope,” said Ian.
Tania joined Ian in the business 15 years ago.
“I left a job I’d been in for 20 years because I felt the need to help Dad out and try and get him to ease back a little but that kind of hasn’t worked out too well. He loves to come in every morning and that’s what we like to see, it’s his baby and empire that he has built up solely on his own.
“I work on the allocation and crane dispatch as well as a bit of the HR Health and Safety, although when it’s above my head we do have others to help out. Ian deals with all the financial side of the business and we have a very good Transport Manager who looks after the Trucks and Hiabs. Before we had our current government in place and they stopped all the oil and gas workings, we had up to 22 cranes here in New Plymouth,” said Tania.
Ian runs through the fleet.
“At the smallest crane is a Unic mini crawler which will drive through a household door and lift two and a half ton. And the largest one is the 250t capacity Liebherr. That was the biggest crane, bought into New Zealand in its time. The first big crane that came to New Zealand was an 80t Kato, which I bought and then my opposition bought a 120t.
“I had to eat humble pie for a couple of years. And then I bought 150t crane and we were down in South Taranaki with it up in there showing all the clients what we could do and couldn’t do. And we got a call from a dairy factory in Hamilton that had had an explosion. So we packed up the crane that night and went up to Hamilton and we worked on that site, from memory, for about four or five months,” said Ian.
“Over the lifespan of the business, we have conducted 14 marine salvagers. The biggest one of those was 95 ton displacement, which we had to build a road for and we walked it 40 kms into the port to put it back in the water. There’s nothing at this stage that’s beaten us.
“A few statistics; we’ve completed over 190 bridge replacements in Taranaki, that’s on farm bridges and main bridges. We’ve managed 14 marine salvages of significance. We’ve completed nearly 350 heavy salvages, trucks over banks and out of rivers. There’s a different challenge every week,” he said.
Tania highlights how hands on Ian has been with the business.
“Just north of New Plymouth there is a massive gorge which you have to navigate to get to Auckland. A lot of trucks come to grief in the area, and we are the first port of call for the police when trucks go over the bank or go over on their side blocking the entire road. You might be up in the middle of the night and moving a truck loaded with food or whatever it may be and getting that road open quickly is the priority.
“Up until last year until I stopped him from doing it, Ian would be in a wet suit in the water hooking up chains and slings and goodness knows what else. He is the essence of the business and has always been very hands on. Although he might cut back his hours in the business and spend more time fishing, Dad will never completely let go, and that’s a good thing,” said Tania.
Image: Ian Roebuck Crane Hire