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Association News, Australia, C&L, CICA, Cranes & Lifting, Features, Industry News, News, Online Subscription, Safety

The year that was for the crane sector

2016 has been another tough year for our industry, with a reported slowing for total construction investment in 2015-16 of -9.8% versus a forecast of -2.4% given last year. Of course, this is the figure for total construction however, there were pockets, which continued to show strong growth, namely multi-level apartment construction, which was up 18.6%. The good news is that the 2016-17 forecast is for positive growth at 4.6%, driven mainly by infrastructure-related engineering works with road and rail leading the way.
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Australia, C&L, Case Studies, Cranes & Lifting, Features, Online Subscription, Victoria

Buchanans – a small family business looking to the next generation

Greg Buchanan, founder of Buchanan Mobile Cranes, has a boilermaking background and the cranes were initially something that evolved out of the need to install or erect the steelwork that he fabricated. While the crane work is now a significant business in its own right, steel fabrication and engineering complement the crane business and there are many niche projects that require both areas of expertise. Greg’s son James developed an early interest in cranes, from around the age of eight as he recalls. With the business and family home co-located on acreage at Moorooduc, it was easy for James to help out after school and on weekends. It was a great learning environment: nothing was forced but neither was anything sugar-coated. As James says: “Every day was a school day.”
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Australia, C&L, Cranes & Lifting, Features, Online Subscription, Safety

A trend towards heavy lifters

The MRT234 flat top tower crane was the first to be officially unveiled in October 2017, and the feedback from end users, according to Strictly Cranes, has been overwhelmingly positive. The second new model, which is the company’s flagship crane in the new luffing range, is the LR330 with a triangular jib. “One really strong aspect is that only two people are needed to completely assemble the MRT234’s jib over a period of a few short hours. This crane boasts nine different jib lengths, ranging from 70m to 28m,” said Eng. Domenico Ciano, technical director at Raimondi Cranes.
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Australia, C&L, Cranes & Lifting, Features, New South Wales, News, Online Subscription, Safety, Technology

Reds Global moving with the times

He ran Verticon for two years prior to starting Reds Global. Persistence and innovation has seen this business continue to grow. Having its main depot in Sydney, it now has cranes working in key markets around Australia although the Greater Sydney area has the highest concentration. Things have changed a lot in tower cranes in Redman’s time in the industry. At the start, Favco diesel hydraulic tower cranes dominated the market and the average age of the cranes was much greater in the earlier era (the average age of the Reds Global fleet is three years).
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Australia, C&L, Cranes & Lifting, Features, Industry News, International, News, Online Subscription, Technology

Konecranes RailQ provides a one-stop-shop for runway analysis

Runway condition influences how well a crane moves on its rails, and profoundly affects the usability and lifetime of the crane and its travelling machineries. A runway in poor condition reduces crane performance and can create serious safety risks. Left undetected, rail alignment defects can lead to serious problems, which can create downtime and loss of production, while they are taken offline to be fixed. The best way to rectify these issues is to identify the warning signs early and prevent it from occurring in the first place. 
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Australia, C&L, Cranes & Lifting, Features, News, Online Subscription, Product News, Products, Safety, Technology

ABH barges designed for lifting projects

A jack-up barge is designed for the support of cranes, excavators and other equipment for nearshore construction, drilling and maintenance works in port and harbours. The current ABH fleet size comprises eight jack-up barges with deck capacities ranging from 10t to 250t. All of ABH’s jack-up barges are of modular design for flexible and efficient solutions; the modular jack-up barges can be containerised and are easily mobilised anywhere in Oceania.
Due to the modular design, the jack-up barge comprises multiple standardised floating pontoons that are coupled together through a pin/connector system. Modules are sized to allow them to be transportable by road or containerised for sea (or road) transport into 20′ or 40′ ISO containers.
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