Established in early 2025, Tonnage designs and manufactures specialised heavy lift equipment for the mining construction and offshore industries.
Tonnage designs, engineers and manufactures a range of equipment including Industrial Stools with a safe working load (SWL) of up to 500 tonne and Transport Beams. These products can be hired from Tonnage facilities in Perth, Karratha, Sydney and Brisbane.
Tonnage is a collaboration between three leading industry experts, Josh John, National Director for Complete Crane Solutions, Jason Pivac, General Manager V&D Engineering and Didier Smets, Technical Solutions expert. Didier provides the background to the organisation.
“Josh and I worked together at Sarens and we met again when he had set up Complete Crane Solutions. We were discussing the shortcomings we could see in the heavy lifting and transport industry and discussed some of the gaps we could see in products servicing these industries.
“Earlier in the year Josh advised he had created the Tonnage business which now involves the three of us, Josh, myself and Jason Pivac from V&D Engineering. I’m more involved in the heavy lifting products which currently include Industrial Stools with SWL up to 500 tonne and Transport Beams. Jason runs the design, engineering and manufacture of the products. With all things considered, the business is off to a solid start with the products being well received by several customers,” said Didier.
Didier also worked for Mammoet where he specialised in gantry cranes. He is bringing this expertise to Complete Crane Solutions.
“I finished working with Mammoet two months ago but in August I was back on a job site for them. There was breakdown on a mine site and they needed a gantry supervisor urgently to assist the mine site with the repairs of their equipment. As the trainer and assessor within Mammoet I have the required level of gantry crane experience.
“Josh and I see the servicing of gantry cranes as a significant opportunity for the business. Recently, we had our first gantry crane from Sarens. We stripped it down, conducted the 10 yearly overhaul and CraneSafe inspection and then packed it up again ready for transport.
“Basically, we will be leveraging our experience across different lifting equipment with a strong focus on service and support in mind. As the business continues to grow, we will be bringing more people on board that I can help train and impart my experience and continue this depth of knowledge within the business,” said Didier.
VDE perform a wide variety of engineering works from simple fabrications through to complex site installations, maintenance and project works. VDE is focused on understanding the needs of clients so the optimum solution can be engineered. This is achieved through considerable technical skills and experience gained through years of delivering quality projects. VDE self-executes all jobs, delivering projects safely, efficiently, and to the highest possible standards. Jason and his team relish the challenge of technically complex projects and blend engineering disciplines to deliver the clients’ aspirations on time and on budget. VDE specialises in mobilising and working in remote and challenging locations.
Didier goes on to the discuss the quality of the Tonnage range and the applications it is designed for.
“The Tonnage range is engineered and manufactured by Jason’s business V&D Engineering (VDE). He’s manufacturing the Industrial Stools for Tonnage, and he also has the engineering knowledge to certify them up to 500 tonne capacity,” he said.
The Industrial Stools are ideal for applications in heavy transport for the storage or temporary storage of heavy parts, including trailers, as well as applications where mining equipment is being serviced, large construction equipment and also in the crane industry. Basically, all applications where equipment needs to be ‘stooled off’ and maintenance conducted. The stools are often only required for a short duration which is a major reason why Tonnage has a rental model.
“We’ve got a number of the Industrial Stools in workshop applications, particularly in the mining sector where large mining excavators and trucks are being dismantled for servicing and maintenance and the heavy componentry is temporarily being stored on the stools. Storing them this way keeps them off the ground and dust free,” said Didier.
Although early days, the Tonnage business is off to a great start with plenty of demand for the products and services offered.
“To be honest, the business has got off to a better start than I was expecting, I thought it would be a slow process but there has been a lot of demand for the stools and beams and there have been a number of enquiries about gantry crane servicing and maintenance,” said Didier.
“We are currently looking at a couple of gantry crane projects which I obviously specialise in and we have made presentations to clients. We are waiting for the clients confirmation to proceed on these so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”