An MRI scanner does not move like a machine of the same weight. A 3T superconducting magnet arrives at destination with several hundred litres of liquid helium holding it near absolute zero, and that single fact reshapes the whole job — the cold-head, the quench pipe, the magnetic field that must be ramped down and ramped back up with the OEM in attendance. The rest of a hospital's heavy estate carries its own demands: CT scanners with gantries that cannot be jolted, linear accelerators wrapped in tonnes of lead and tungsten, cath labs, mammography units, fixed and mobile X-ray, PET-CT and the ultrasound fleet. Across 22 years and 1,213 recorded moves, Seemleius has relocated medical and imaging equipment for clinics and hospitals across Dubai, the wider UAE and the Free Zones — almost always inside a live facility, almost always out of hours, and always with the biomedical-engineering handover treated as part of the move rather than an afterthought.
Equipment categories handled
MRI scanners
1.5T and 3T superconducting systems, including helium-charged magnets. Cold-head, quench pipe and chiller handled to the OEM's procedure, with magnet ramp-down and ramp-up co-ordinated against the manufacturer's engineer.
CT & PET-CT
Computed-tomography gantries and PET-CT systems moved on their transport locks, the gantry kept square and shock-free, table and detectors crated to the OEM's packing spec for the road leg.
Linear accelerators
Linac and oncology systems with their shielded heads and heavy counterweights. Lead and tungsten mass surveyed to the gram before the lift plan is signed, modulator and gantry separated where the OEM requires.
Cath labs & angiography
Fixed C-arm and biplane cath-lab systems, floor and ceiling-mounted. Rail layouts logged before disconnection so the suite rebuilds to its registered geometry and re-calibrates against the same datum.
X-ray & mammography
Fixed and mobile X-ray units, fluoroscopy and digital mammography. Detectors and tubes packed against knock damage, lead-shielded panels carried on their own marked layout.
Ultrasound & portables
Cart-based ultrasound, portable imaging and the smaller biomedical fleet that travels alongside the heavy assets. Probes boxed to their parent unit, screens and arms protected for the move.
Why medical equipment is different
Relocate a press or a lathe and the job finishes when the asset is levelled and powered up. Imaging and oncology equipment carries hazards and dependencies that a general industrial move never meets, and the first of them is cold. A superconducting MRI magnet holds its field in a bath of liquid helium near minus 269 degrees; the cold-head and chiller keep it there, and the quench pipe exists to vent that helium safely if the magnet ever loses superconductivity. A move that disturbs the cryogen system without the OEM present risks a quench — an uncontrolled boil-off that can cost a five-figure helium recharge and days of downtime. So the magnet ramp-down before transport and the ramp-up after it are scheduled with the manufacturer's field engineer, and the cold-head, quench connection and helium level are checked against the OEM's procedure at every stage.
Weight is the second difference, and it is concentrated. A linac head and a cath-lab gantry pack tonnes of lead and tungsten shielding into a small footprint, which is why the survey records mass to the gram and the lift plan accounts for it before anyone touches the equipment. The third difference is the building. Most of this work happens inside a running hospital, where a lift has a stated capacity that the loaded equipment must not exceed, corridors are narrow, doors are sized for beds rather than gantries, and the route crosses zones with their own infection-control rules. Imaging suites also sit behind lead-lined walls and doors that constrain access. The fourth difference is the clock: a scanner room cannot be closed during clinic hours, so the heavy work runs at night or across a weekend to keep clinical disruption to nothing. And the move is not done when the equipment lands — it is done when the hospital's biomedical-engineering team and the OEM have re-calibrated it, run the acceptance and image-quality checks, and signed it back into clinical use.
Methodology and equipment
The work follows the same backbone as every industrial move we run, set out in full on our machinery moving methodology page, adapted here for cryogen safety, shielded weight and a live clinical building.
OEM liaison first. Before a date is fixed, we bring the equipment manufacturer's field engineer into the plan. On an MRI that means agreeing the magnet ramp-down and ramp-up windows, the cold-head and quench-pipe procedure, and whether the magnet travels charged or is de-energised; on a linac or cath lab it means the disassembly the OEM mandates to keep the warranty and the calibration intact. The manufacturer's procedure sets the sequence, and our plan is built around it.
Air casters and skating in clinical corridors. Inside the building the heavy assets travel on air casters where the floor finish and infection-control route demand a clean, low-vibration glide, and on machine skates and toe-jacks where overhead lift is not available. Loads are kept under the rated capacity of every lift and floor on the path, and the route is protected so ward and theatre traffic is not disturbed.
Crane for external lifts. Where a scanner cannot leave or enter through the building — a magnet too large for the goods lift, an imaging suite reached only through an external wall — a mobile crane handles the lift through a window or roof opening, with the lift plan signed by the appointed person before the day.
Gantry and specialist rigging. A gantry system raises and lowers shielded heads and magnets in confined plant rooms where a crane cannot reach, and purpose-built cradles carry the OEM's transport locks so the gantry, table and detectors stay in their packed geometry through the move.
Re-set and hand over. At destination the equipment is positioned to the marked footprint, the magnet ramped back up with the OEM, services reconnected, and the unit handed to the biomedical-engineering team for re-calibration and the acceptance checks that return it to clinical use.
The site survey, in detail
Nothing is quoted firm until an engineer has walked both origin and destination, and for medical equipment the survey is the part that protects the patient timetable. We record the rated capacity of every lift on the route and weigh it against the loaded equipment, because a 3T magnet or a shielded linac head can sit close to or beyond a passenger lift's limit. We measure door and corridor clearances against the gantry or magnet envelope, note overhead obstructions, and confirm whether a crane lift through a wall or roof is needed because the building access will not take the asset. We map the infection-control route through the facility — which zones the equipment may cross, where it must be wrapped or cleaned, and which doors must stay sealed — and we agree the out-of-hours window with the facilities team so the work avoids clinic time. The output is a written method statement covering the OEM liaison plan, the cryogen procedure where an MRI is involved, the lift and rigging plan, the infection-control route, and the biomedical handover sequence. The free survey is the foundation of every quote, and for a UAE site we can usually arrange it within a working day or two of your enquiry.
CT scanner moved from a clinic into a hospital imaging suite
A diagnostic clinic transferring a CT scanner into a hospital's imaging department, where the new suite was reached through a passenger lift with a stated capacity the loaded gantry sat just inside. The coordinator surveyed both buildings, confirmed the lift would take the weight on its transport locks, and mapped an infection-control route that kept the gantry clear of the wards in use. The work ran overnight so no clinic session was lost, the gantry travelled square on its locks, and the unit was handed to the hospital's biomedical team for re-calibration before the morning list.
3T MRI relocated with OEM cryogen co-ordination
A hospital moving a 3T superconducting MRI to a refurbished suite within the same campus. The coordinator brought the OEM field engineer into the plan from the survey, agreed the magnet ramp-down and the cold-head and quench-pipe procedure, and scheduled the heavy lift for a weekend so the scanner room could close without touching the clinical list. The magnet travelled to the manufacturer's procedure, the helium level was checked at each stage, and the OEM ramped the field back up before the biomedical team ran the acceptance and image-quality checks.
Linac moved between oncology departments
A cancer centre relocating a linear accelerator between treatment bunkers, where the shielded head and counterweights put a concentrated load through a confined plant room. The coordinator surveyed the lead and tungsten mass to the gram, planned a gantry lift where no crane could reach, and separated the modulator and gantry to the OEM's disassembly spec. The route was protected to keep the load under every floor rating on the path, the work ran out of hours, and the system was handed to the OEM and the hospital physicists for re-calibration and beam re-commissioning before patients returned.
Moving a 3T MRI inside a working hospital is the kind of job that keeps a facilities director awake, because a quench or a missed clinic both land on me. The coordinator had the OEM engineer in the plan from the first survey, scheduled the heavy lift over a weekend so we lost no scanning time, and the cryogen side was handled exactly to the manufacturer's procedure. The magnet ramped back up cleanly and the acceptance checks passed first time.
As the biomedical engineer signing the equipment back into service, what mattered to me was that the move respected the calibration. The CT gantry came across on its transport locks without a knock, the linac was separated and rebuilt to the OEM's spec, and the coordinator kept the handover sequence tight so I had the units ready for re-calibration on schedule. The infection-control route through the building was planned properly, which is rarer than it should be.
The move itself was handled well — the mobile X-ray and ultrasound fleet came across without a scratch and the survey caught a lift capacity issue I had missed. My only frustration was that the OEM engineer for one imaging unit was held up by their own diary, which pushed our re-calibration window back by an afternoon. To be fair to the coordinator, she had flagged the OEM availability as a risk early and re-sequenced the rest of the work so nothing else slipped. I would use them again.
Frequently asked questions — medical equipment moving
How do you handle the helium on a 3T MRI?
The liquid helium that keeps a superconducting magnet near minus 269 degrees is never disturbed casually. We plan the move around the OEM's cryogen procedure: the helium level and pressure are checked before transport, the cold-head and chiller are managed to keep the magnet cold, and whether the magnet travels charged or is de-energised is decided with the manufacturer's engineer. The aim throughout is to avoid a quench — an uncontrolled helium boil-off — which is both expensive to recharge and a source of days of downtime.
Who co-ordinates the cold-head, quench pipe and magnet ramp?
The OEM's field engineer leads the cryogen and magnet side, and our plan is built around their procedure. Before the date is fixed we agree the ramp-down and ramp-up windows, the cold-head handling, and the quench-pipe disconnection and reconnection. Our crew handles the rigging, the route and the lift; the manufacturer signs off the magnet at de-energising and again at ramp-up, so the warranty and the calibration are protected.
How do you account for lead-shielding weight on a linac or cath lab?
The lead and tungsten in a linac head or a shielded imaging assembly concentrate a great deal of mass into a small footprint, so the survey records the weight to the gram and the lift plan is built on that figure rather than an estimate. Where the OEM allows, heavy shielded sections are separated for the move and rebuilt at destination. Every floor, lift and rigging point on the route is checked against the loaded weight before the lift plan is signed.
What if a hospital lift cannot take the equipment weight?
We check the rated capacity of every lift on the route at survey and weigh it against the loaded equipment, because a charged magnet or a shielded head can sit at or beyond a passenger lift's limit. Where the lift will not take it, we plan an alternative: a goods lift if one is rated for the load, a crane lift through a window or external wall, or a gantry system in a confined plant room. The access constraint is solved on paper before the work date, not discovered on the night.
Can the work be done out of hours to avoid clinical disruption?
Yes, and it usually is. A scanner room or treatment bunker cannot close during clinic or treatment hours, so the heavy work is scheduled overnight or across a weekend and agreed with the facilities team in advance. The route is protected so the rest of the building keeps running, and the programme is sequenced to return the equipment to service before the next clinical session.
Do you handle the biomedical handover and re-calibration?
Re-calibration is part of how we treat a medical move as finished. The equipment is positioned and reconnected, the magnet ramped back up where an MRI is involved, and the unit is then handed to the hospital's biomedical-engineering team and the OEM for re-calibration, the acceptance and image-quality checks, and beam re-commissioning on a linac. We co-ordinate the handover sequence so those teams have the equipment ready on the agreed window and the unit is signed back into clinical use.
How is infection control managed inside a live hospital?
The route through the building is mapped at survey with the facilities and infection-control teams: which zones the equipment may cross, where it must be wrapped or cleaned, and which doors stay sealed. Air casters keep the movement clean and low-vibration on finished floors, and the path is chosen to keep heavy equipment clear of wards and theatres in use. The infection-control route is written into the method statement alongside the lift plan.
Do you handle customs if the equipment is imported?
Yes. Where imaging or oncology equipment is being imported, we confirm the Dubai Customs HS classification first — medical and imaging apparatus sits under HS Chapter 90, with associated electrical equipment under Chapter 85 — and we file any Free Zone gate-pass documentation before the work date is locked. Misclassification is the commonest cause of a clearance hold, so we settle it before the equipment ships.
Explore the rest of our machinery moving work
Medical equipment moving is one strand of our wider machinery moving service, and the engineering detail behind every move is set out on the methodology page. If equipment is leaving the country, our corridor guides cover exporting machinery and industrial plant to the United Kingdom and to Germany.
Ready to relocate medical equipment?
Send us the equipment list, the destination, and the deadline. One of our team will come back to you with a survey window and a methodology brief within a working day.
Questions people ask about this service
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