Roen Salvage make hundreds of picks per day, and many of the jobs run nonstop 24 hours a day.
Legacy Rigs Ideal for On-Barge Marine Work
It’ s not surprising that Roen has found outstanding success and value in relying on older cranes for its demanding work.
“ We always move our cranes by barge, and they almost always work from barges, so we aren’ t concerned about highway shipping weights,” said Kuzay.
“ When choosing a crane, we look for duty cycle capabilities and a sturdy build,” he said.“ Modern cranes are designed to minimize operating weight for more economical truck shipment, so they have a long tail swing to get the needed stability.”
Kuzay explained why long tail swing is a disadvantage on a barge.“ It eats up the usable deck space, creates pinch points and causes the barge to list more, even if you aren’ t lifting anything heavy,” he said.
Kuzay added that he believes the structural designs of older cranes makes them the right choice for Roen’ s demanding work.
“ On barges, you need a crane that can handle some degree of list and trim,” he noted.“ Old Manitowocs can do that even under duty-cycle frequency. That’ s why we rely on them.”
A second reason for Roen’ s success with older cranes is how well the company takes care of them.
“ All of our crane operators are trained in house and promoted from within,” Kuzay said.“ They all have to learn to be crane mechanics before they can become NCCCO-certified operators. Having operators that aren’ t just pulling magic levers helps greatly, both with safety and with preventive maintenance.”
Besides performing regular maintenance on all of its cranes during the construction season, Roen does extensive work in its shop during winter. That work typically includes overhauling one or two cranes each year.
The overhaul process includes installing new torque converters, attending to other major parts that need machining or replacement and checking over the entire rig for structural integrity.
A Step Up
Roen bought the Millennium 4100 to provide higher lifting capacity along with the easy operation, precise control and smooth performance offered by today’ s hydraulic power transmission and electronic controls.
“ We were encountering projects more often that were nearing the limits of our 150-ton cranes,” said Kuzay.“ The Millennium’ s 230-ton capacity lets us do those more-demanding jobs. We even had a new 180-foot by 60-foot barge built mainly for that crane.”
An aerial view of Roen’ s headquarters shows the company’ s extensive inventory of cranes, barges, tugs and other equipment. www. cranehotline. com • August 2026 29