The world's first lightweight portable jib crane capable of lifting a tonne in weight is expected to create quite a splash with the water industry when it is launched in the UK next month.

The new system designed, developed and manufactured in-house by Chepstow based Reid Lifting, is specifically designed to meet the rigorous requirements and stringent health and safety regime of the water industry.

The lightweight Porta-Davit is made from aluminum, can be carried and assembled by two people, lifted into embedded sockets on site and ready for use within minutes. It can then be dismantled, cleaned and packed away ready for re-use.

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It is designed for water and waste treatment plants where pumps, valves and filters need to be lifted for inspection on a regular basis. Many of the pumps weigh over half a tonne and currently engineers have to rig up large machines or build permanent structures to carry out this work.

Previewed at Pollutec Horizon Paris in December – the key trade exhibition for the environmental sector – the new Porta-Davit created considerable interest as well as some forward orders and the company is now gearing up for production next month.

MD Nick Battersby explained: "There's nothing on the market with this lifting capability and offering such safety factors and the feedback from the Paris exhibition was extremely positive and encouraging with orders from one of the Worlds leading Water companies.

"The water industry in particular struggles with increasingly heavy pumps and filters that have to be lifted and the benefits of such a unique system as ours were immediately recognised.

"Every system shipped from our factory is actually load tested to 150% of rated capacity providing our customers with the greatest safety factors in the industry."

(CD/GK)