Sheffield Forgemasters awards £10m cranes deal to Basque company Jaso

The seven cranes will service Sheffield Forgemasters’ new 13,000 tonne Heavy Forge, which is under construction at its Brightside Lane site.

Jaso beat five other crane suppliers in the tender process to be awarded preferred bidder status for the design, supply and installation of all overhead cranes required for the state-of-the-art facility, which will replace the company’s existing 10,000 tonne press.

Steve Marshall, Manufacturing Transformation Director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “Jaso Industrial Cranes has been appointed as our preferred bidder for all seven of the overhead cranes required to operate our new forging facility.

“The tender process was very tightly contested, but Jaso have a significant amount of experience in supply of cranes for hot metal and steelworks, which is extremely important for the work that we are undertaking.”

The cranes are due to be supplied and fitted between March 2025 and July 2025.

Aitor Guesalaga, General Manager at Jaso Industrial Cranes, said: “Sheffield Forgemasters is installing a high-specification heavy forging line and we are delighted to be bringing our expertise in the design and manufacture of overhead cranes for these types of facilities to this project.

“The forging line will be one of the most advanced in Europe and the largest of its kind in the UK.”