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Machine movement in Grimsby and across North East Lincolnshire
We provide machine movement in Grimsby for seafood processors, cold stores, engineering firms, bulk terminals and the offshore wind service businesses along the Humber bank. We handle one machine or a whole line: installing new plant, relocating a works to another site, re-laying a factory floor, and clearing out machinery that is finished with. A lot of the heavier plant sits on the secure dock estates at Grimsby and Immingham, where access clearance goes into the programme from the first call.
We cover Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Immingham, Stallingborough, Healing, Laceby, Killingholme and Ulceby, and out to Louth, Brigg and Scunthorpe. Most enquiries are priced the same working day from a desktop survey.
What a machine move involves
Every move goes through the same stages. The machine is disconnected and made safe, rigged and extracted, carried to its new position, then levelled and set down on its mounts. A move between sites generally needs a crane and a low loader. A move across the same factory floor can be done entirely with jacks, skates and a gantry. The kit we bring comes down to what the machine weighs and how many days you can manage without it.
What we move in Grimsby
| Equipment | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Freezing, portioning and packing equipment | Seafood and food processing units around the town | Split into modules, skated out and rebuilt in the new hall |
| Conveyor, hopper and screening sections | Bulk terminals on the Immingham estate | Craned out and replaced between ship and train movements |
| Lathes, mills and fabrication plant | Engineering works on Europarc and Pyewipe | Jacked up, skated to the door and loaded onto a low loader |
| Refrigeration compressors and chiller packs | Cold store plant rooms and roofs | Lifted to the roof or yard, then rolled across to the base |
| Test rigs and workshop machinery | Offshore wind service buildings around the docks | Shifted between bays or brought out through the roller doors |
| Pumps, motors and process skids | Chemical and process plant along the Humber bank | Removed and replaced during a shutdown under the site’s permits |
Tell us what the machine weighs, its size and where it is going, and we will work out the method. The machine movement service page covers the process in full.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our machine movement team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Grimsby
Our Grimsby machine movement work comes from six main areas.
Seafood processing and cold storage
More seafood is processed in Grimsby than anywhere else in the country, and the units keep adding and replacing line equipment. We move freezing and packing machinery into new halls, out of old ones and between units, working to each site’s hygiene rules. See our food and beverages page.
Bulk handling on the docks
Conveyors, hoppers, screens and loading gear on the bulk terminals wear out and get upgraded. New sections arrive by road, then get lifted and set in position around the ship and rail schedule. See our maritime page.
Offshore wind servicing
Grimsby services the wind farms in the southern North Sea. The warehouses and workshops behind that fleet need test rigs, machine tools and handling equipment installed, moved or taken out as the operation grows. See our power and renewables page.
Chemical and process plant
On the process sites along the bank, pumps, motors, skids and smaller vessels come out and go back during planned shutdowns. Every step runs under the site’s permits, with inductions done beforehand. See our chemicals sector page.
Europarc, Pyewipe and the older estates
Fabricators, engineering firms and distributors fill Europarc, Pyewipe and the estates behind the dock road. Here we deliver and install new machines, relocate whole works to bigger units and take out plant going for resale or scrap. See our industrial sector page.
Hospitals, colleges and schools
Across North East Lincolnshire, chillers, air handling units and plant room equipment on hospital, college and school sites get replaced in holidays and quiet periods. The route through the building is agreed with the estates team first. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.
Access and planning for a machine move in Grimsby
Points we check on most Grimsby jobs:
- Getting loads in and out. Heavy loads come in on the M180 and A180, with the A160 branching off for Immingham and Killingholme. We check estate roads, gate widths and turning space at the far end.
- Dock estate access. The port estates at Grimsby and Immingham run their own vehicle, escort and clearance rules, and rail lines cross the estate roads. We confirm the clearance lead time and any level crossings before fixing a date.
- Floors and ground. Processing halls have coated floors that fall to drains, and much of the bank is reclaimed land. We check what a slab or yard will carry and spread the load with plates or mats.
- When the plant can stop. Processing lines stop between shifts and terminal plant stops between vessels, so the move is sequenced to start and finish inside those gaps.
- Road closures. Where a load-out needs part of a road or footway, we arrange the traffic management and road closure with North East Lincolnshire Council, or North Lincolnshire Council for Killingholme and Ulceby.
Moving large or heavy machinery by road
A vehicle and load over 44,000kg gross, 2.9m wide or 18.65m long is an abnormal load. Up to 80,000kg the highway and bridge authorities need two clear working days’ notice through ESDAL, rising to five above that, when the police need notice too. Loads over 2.9m wide or 18.65m long also need two clear working days’ notice to the police. Above 150,000kg or 6.1m wide a Special Order is needed, applied for about ten weeks ahead. We handle the notifications ourselves or with your haulier. From Grimsby, heavy loads leave on the A180 for the M180, and the A160 serves Immingham and the bank.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every DN postcode around Grimsby and the south bank of the Humber:
- Grimsby: town centre, the Fish Docks, Pyewipe, Grange, Nunsthorpe, Scartho, Weelsby and Europarc
- Coast: Cleethorpes, Humberston, New Waltham and Tetney
- The bank: Great Coates, Healing, Stallingborough, Immingham, Habrough, Ulceby and North and South Killingholme
- Wider area: Laceby, Louth, Caistor, Brigg, Barton-upon-Humber and Scunthorpe
We also move machinery right across the UK.
Why Grimsby firms choose Synergy Lifting for machine movement
- Used to working over live production. On processing and cold store sites we plan each move around the shift, so the rest of the floor keeps running.
- Moves timed to your stops. We plan around shift changes, vessel calls and shutdown dates, and tell you at the outset when the machine will be back in service.
- One firm from start to finish. Our own people run the crane, skates, jacks, gantries and transport, so nothing is passed between subcontractors.
- Qualified and accredited. CPCS and NPORS operators, lifts planned to BS 7121, equipment inspected under LOLER and PUWER, SSIP approved, Constructionline Gold Member, certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, and members of the Construction Plant-hire Association.
More than machine movement
A Grimsby machine move can call for one of these as well:
How a machine move works
- Send us the weight and dimensions, where the machine is now, where it is going and your dates. Photos help.
- We price it, usually the same working day from a desktop survey. Complex moves may need a site visit first.
- We prepare the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan.
- On the day we rig, extract, transport and position the machine.
- It is set down and levelled, ready for your engineers to reconnect and commission.
Common questions
Can you get clearance to move plant inside the port estate?
Yes. Give us the terminal or berth, the site’s access rules and who will escort us, and we build the clearance lead time into the programme. Passes, vehicle details and inductions are sorted before the date is confirmed.
Can you move a whole processing line to a new unit?
Yes. We survey the line and mark it up, take it apart in a set order, then rebuild it at the new unit so each section is back on the floor in the sequence you need. We work to the hygiene rules at both ends and fix the dates around your production.
Who disconnects and reconnects the machine?
Mechanical disconnection and making safe is usually ours, and we position the machine precisely enough for commissioning. Electrical and control reconnection is coordinated with your own engineers or the machine manufacturer, and who covers what is agreed at survey stage.
Can you move a machine that has broken down?
Yes. Breakdown work is prioritised because production has usually stopped. Call us with the machine details and we will give you a firm attendance time on the call.
Get a quote for machine movement in Grimsby
- Phone: 01482 243 018
- Email: grimsby@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send the weight, the dimensions and both addresses, plus photos of the machine and the way out if you can.
We also provide machine movement in Hull, Lincoln, Doncaster and York. See all the machine movement locations.