Above: A Combi-SC straddle carrier can travel in and out of a warehouse with ease, according to the manufacturer.
July, 2025- Being able to safely and efficiently load or offload full truckloads of structural steel is a critical capability for sister companies SC Steel LLC and Alamo Structural Steel LLC, says Charles Wall, president. SC Steel has facilities in Taylors and Greenville, South Carolina, and Alamo has shops in Waco and Victoria, Texas.
Both companies became part of the FabSouth LLC’s group of nine companies when the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based FabSouth acquired them in 2018. Wall says he noticed that one of the companies in the group, Lydon Steel Co. LLC in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, operated a piece of material handling equipment that could overcome the challenges of using 55,000-pound capacity forklifts to load, retrieve and load steel: a straddle carrier from Combilift USA.
However, that was an earlier version of the straddle carrier, which used chain rigging, Wall notes. “As soon as the rotating forklifting attachment was available, we issued an order and have been very pleased with that choice.”
When setting a load of steel down on a truck, it is easy to remove the forks because they simply rotate and operators no longer need to remove chain, rigging or tube struts from beneath the load, says Wall.
The initial unit, a Combi-SC with a 55,000- pound capacity, was purchased for Alamo and is well-maintained, he says. “The one we’ve had in operation the longest has been in service for six years [yet] it’s almost like new.”
SC Steel and Alamo Structural Steel primarily use Combilift straddle carriers for retrieving finished goods and loading them on a truck.
Since then, Alamo bought another 55,000-pound Combi-SC for its other location and SC Steel purchased two straddle carriers, a 55,000-pound Combi-SC and, most recently, a 77,000-pound model, for its Greenville facility, Wall says. “The articulating and rotating forks that allow you to lift a full truckload in one pick were particularly attractive to us.”
OVERCOMING ISSUES
One of the challenges of using a large-capacity forklitt is it can only access the material from one side, Wall explains. “You can do a two-forkli flload, but it is very hard to move those and get them into position to set the load on a flatbed trailer.”
In addition, a forkliff is not as easy to retrieve loads in a yard compared to a straddle carrier, Wall says. “With the Combilitt , you can start at any point in the yard that you want to and simply drive over loads until you get to the one you need, litt it up, carry it over the loads that are lined up in the queue ahead of it and remove it individually. With a forklitt , you would not be able to do that.”
Before (left) and after aerial images show that a straddle carrier creates significantly better space utilization at SC Steel by eliminating the aisles needed for trucks and trailers to operate.
Concerns when using a forkliff include compromised operator safety and damage to the material when the forklitt is not operated properly, he notes, but neither issue has occurred at SC Steel or Alamo. “However, we do feel far more comfortable litting a large load with all four forks underneath it.”
The companies primarily use the straddle carriers for retrieving finished goods and loading them on a truck, Wall says. When raw material arrives at a facility, an overhead crane unloads it. “However, if we don’t have room in our storage space, we may use a straddle carrier to unload the raw material in a remote lot if it’s going to be stored long term.”
At two of the four shops in Greenville, a straddle carrier can access through the shop door to move components built on the shop floor directly to the staging yard and stored onto dunnage until SC Steel is ready to place it on a flatbed trailer.
“We also have some loads that come out of our shop onto a flatbed trailer, and they are simply transferred to our staging yard and then litted by the straddle carrier to be stored onto dunnage, so we don’t tie up a trailer while we’re waiting for the shipment bay,” Wall explains.
The three-wheel setup of the Combi-SC provides a high level of maneuverability to turn in a tight radius, Wall says. It litts the load and rotates it without moving the center of the load. “We can simply turn it 90, 180, 270 degrees whatever it needs to be so that it’s aligned with the truck we’re getting ready to set the load on.”
The straddle carrier also has a compact footprint that allows shops to create narrow aisles (4 to 5 feet) between the storage rows, he adds. “That’s enough for us to maneuver the tires, drive mechanism and frame into position.”
Combilift claims that its Combi-SC straddle carrier is a cost-effective and fl exible material handling solution for large loads.
MOVING MASSES
Some of the companies’ projects require a large quantity of structural steel, such as SC Steel’s project for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, which call for more than 18,000 tons of material. The straddle carriers enable shipping a large quantity per month, Wall says. “In October 2023, we shipped 8,025 tons in a single month. We couldn’t have done that without the Combili straddle carriers.”
The fundamental feature, however, is that a straddle carrier can load a truckload of steel in a single pick in 10 to 12 minutes, he notes. That capability proved beneficial during the pandemic, for example, when freight services were scarce, and independent carriers appreciated the ability to get in and out quickly. “It enabled us to get a steadier flow of outside carriers.”
An option that Wall says the Combi-SC operators appreciate is the remote control, which enhances productivity and safety by increasing visibility and flexibility. According to Combilitt, the remote control eliminates the need for a spotter/banksman in a conned area, increasing return on investment. Alamo’s initial straddle carrier came with a cab and remote control, but the company found that operators primarily used the remote and the other straddle carriers were ordered with a remote and no cab, further increasing ROI.
When subcontracting fabricators do not have a straddle carrier, and the majority do not, trailers have to be rented for them, he adds. Nonetheless, Wall continues to recommend that they purchase a straddle carrier. One partner, Macuch Steel Products Inc. in Augusta, Georgia, did purchase one last year.
“We can simply send the trailers when they are ready to ship the outbound loads,” Wall says. “It makes them a more attractive source to [work with] because they have a Combili .”
Alamo Structural Steel LLC, 254/799-2471, http://alamosteel.com/
Combilift USA, 877/266-2456, http://combilift.com/
SC Steel LLC, 864/244-2860, http://scsteel.com/
