Napier crane hire company Diack Bros closes after 60 years - all workers had jobs to go to within ‘a few hours’

From beginning to end - from left, Chris Diack, Don Diack, and Dean Diack at the yard the company established over the last 60 years in the Onekawa Industrial District. Photo / Warren Buckland

Six decades of often high-profile heavy lifting is over for iconic Napier crane-hire firm Diack Bros, a near day-one fixture of the Onekawa Industrial District, which announced its closure to staff just before Christmas.

It’s a retirement thing for brothers Chris and Dean Diack, and dad and director Don, who with brother Peter founded the firm in Wakefield St, having followed father George into the residential construction business but found there was a growing need for lifting services.

Across the road were still the green paddocks of Lagoon Farm.

In the spirit of everyone remembering where they were when they heard of the assassination of US President JF Kennedy (November 22, 1963), he notes that was the day the new business, or PF and DT Diack as it was known in the establishment phase, placed its first order for a new crane, from England.

However, cranes are built to order – “they don’t just come off a lot, like cars” – and it was about 18 months before it landed in New Zealand and was put to use, which became the norm in the rapid growth of crane hire.

Cranes are still built overseas, mainly to order, with still similar delivery timetables, but in some sort of irony, there is currently a new crane on the “lot”, one a 40-tonne crane which was ordered by Diack Bros before it was decided to wind-up, which arrived in New Zealand two weeks ago, and is parked in Auckland awaiting a buyer.

The company is itself now in the selling business, starting the dispersal of the fleet, including the real biggie, a 220-tonne load beast – more than 130-tonnes on-site with crane and weights, stretching a boom up to 105 metres high, and horizontally up to 80 metres.

The business of crane-hire became such that the lime-green cranes of Diacks – originally yellow, like all cranes were till the early 1980s – seem to have worked on most larger-scale construction jobs in Napier-Hastings in the past 50-60 years, including occasional pooling resources with other operators when up to eight cranes have been needed for ground-built roofs lifts.

Notably, it includes the Whirinaki mill north of Napier, from the days it was established in 1971, but to name a few, there was the Napier Public Library, and there were the new light towers at McLean Park. Another was an old woolshed, as it was shifted.

Chris Diack, who, like brother Dean, grew up living more than the boyhood dream by being able to clutch the controls of the machines from a young age, and saw a third generation into the operation, says the company strived to make sure the fleet was up-to-date and cranes were available when needed.

Sometimes that was instantly, as was the case with vehicle emergencies, including trucks and trains, two aircraft, one that had bellied at Hawke’s Bay Airport and another from the beach after it landed in the sea off the coast, and a sunken boat in the inner harbour.

Don Diack said none of the staff would have known about the decision to close before it was announced, yet, such are demands in the industry for skilled staff, all those who wanted jobs to go to had jobs “within a few hours”.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.