February 2015 | Page 4 of 5

Terex acquires Dueco

Terex has acquired most of the assets of Dueco -Terex Utilities largest distributor and mounting company. Wisconsin based Dueco is responsible for
Terex Utilities sales and service across 17 states.

Details of the transaction have not yet been released, nor specific merger strategies, but it looks as though Terex Services will add the additional product support coverage to its existing network, which could be used to help support other group products, such as those made by Genie.

Dueco was founded by Pete Dalum in 1955 and and was renamed Dalum’s Utility Equipment Company in the 1970s – thus DUECo. It is almost unique among larger companies in the sector in that it is female owned and run. It has expanded its business rapidly in recent years and was appointed as a Fassi dealer in 2011. In May last year Terex added Wyoming and Montana to its territory. Terex statement said: “Customers will benefit further from the unified team working with a streamlined sales and service pipeline with a more focused approach and expanded solutions”.

Dueco chief executive Judie Taylor, whose family started the business, added: “We are very glad to be an integral component of Terex now. Dueco’s philosophy has always been to focus on our customers and our team, with a passionate desire to take care of both. Our customers will benefit from the vertical integration and seamless depth of expertise with our combined teams to support customers nationwide and even globally”.

“Our team members, some of whom have been with us for decades, will be able to grow and prosper as Terex grows within the electric utility market. Historically, the Terex and Dueco team members have been working on parallel paths to support the customers in the marketplace. It is a natural synergy, and we are excited that the collaboration of the combined teams, and the breadth and depth of their knowledge-base, will be unsurpassed in the industry! We are ready to build and grow the Terex brand.”

Terex Utilities general manager Don Anderson said: “Dueco has been a major part of our business for the past 55 years. We are very happy to have the opportunity to bring their entrepreneurial spirit and customer responsiveness into our organisation. This acquisition shows our commitment to continue to invest in bringing better solutions to our customers in the global utility and services markets. We’re eager to move forward and continue to build on our recent growth while helping our customers to succeed.”

Scott Hensel general manager of Terex Services added: “By bringing Terex and Dueco together, Terex Services now has a national footprint with over 700 technicians and 56 service centre locations. This brings even more value to our customers and allows us to expand our Equipment Services solutions within the Utilities and Aerial markets by developing a stronger presence in the Midwest and Northeast regions.”

GH Johnson adds Kobelco crawler cranes

UK crane rental company GH Johnson Crane Hire has bought two new CKE800G crawler cranes from Kobelco Cranes Europe.

Adding the 80 tonne capacity lattice boom units increases the Kobelco count in Johnson’s fleet to 18 units. The five added in the last 12 months were three CKE1350G and two CKE1100G crawlers.

Paul Johnson, GH Johnson Crane Hire managing director, said, “In total, we will have upwards of 70,000 hours experience with Kobelco crawler cranes and have never had a serious breakdown or mechanical fault.”

Demand is strong in the UK for crawler cranes, Johnson said. The fleet is busy on jobs all over the country working on projects from hotels, schools and sports stadia to bridges, tunnels, flood prevention works and shaft construction. “At the moment, we have several Kobelco Cranes working on both the Crossrail tunnelling work and the National Grid London network upgrade and a couple of others working on water treatment and flood prevention jobs.”

Engines in the G series cranes comply with European Union Stage IIIB (Tier 4i) exhaust emission regulations. They have diesel particulate filters (DPFs) and exhaust gas cleaning systems to minimise harmful emissions of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

Delivery of both new units will be in April.

Liebherr launches rental app

Manufacturer Liebherr has launched a Rental Services app to allow construction machines to be rented directly via a smartphone or tablet computers.

The company said the app could be used by Liebherr customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as France and the UK.

“The app provides a quick overview of the equipment available in the Liebherr hire park and of the Liebherr dealer network. The app can be used in English, German and French,” the company said.

The app was said to show earthmoving equipment and tower cranes available for hire in a product overview, with customers able to call up technical data, a short description and images.

The mobile app is also said to detect the user’s location and offer contact details of the nearest dealer.

“The Rental Services overview first flags up dealers near the user’s location. If deployment in a different area is planned, the dealer overview can be adjusted according to specific requirements. This makes it possible for the user to filter according to distance, post code or location in order to obtain the contact details of other Rental Services,” Liebherr said.

Liebherr added that the Rental Services app could be downloaded for smartphones and tablets with Apple, Android and Windows operating systems.

All hands on deck

A Link-Belt RTC-80130 Series II rough terrain crane has been introduced to its operator and crew for the rigging peculiarities of the USS Constitution, a very old and stately vessel located in the Charlestown Navy Yard of the Boston National Historic Park.

The 130-ton capacity RT is being put to the test by the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) Detachment Boston and their work on the USS Constitution as they ready the ship for dry dock refurbishment that will begin early this year. The USS Constitution, America’s Ship of State, is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world and is part of Boston’s Freedom Trail, which links Revolutionary War and other historic sites together to present the early history of Boston and the founding of the United States.

The crane constantly moves guns on and off the decks of the ship and from the ship’s holding area below deck. The crane also moves and lifts yards, masts, generators and all types of material including chains, rigging and a personnel platform.

In late August 2014, Detachment Boston used the RTC-80130 Series II to place three main sails on the frigate which included the mizzen topsail, the fore topsail and the main topsail. The main topsail is more than 80 feet long at the head, weighs 1,200 pounds, and like the other two topsails, is hoisted aloft to the yard by the RTC-80130 Series II and then “bent-on” by the ship’s crew. When set (opened up), the main topsail is 3,366 square feet – approximately the size of a regulation basketball court.

Throughout the day, operator Jon Stolarski and the rigging crew must take into account the rise and fall of the tide every six hours in Boston Harbor. The tide can shift as much as 12 feet or more. Winds also affect the movement of the ship; the north wind pushes the ship out from its lines, while the south wind pushes the ship against its camel (flotation device used to raise the buoyancy of the ship) and pier.

“The main topsail operation is easier, but requires more height,” said Stolarski. “With the boom extended 162 feet, the 80130 lifts the 80-foot long sail, folded in half, up and over the lines in a 90 degree swing to the tallest mast.”

Stolarski slowly lowered the sail to waiting Navy personnel and rigging crew about 104 feet above deck, and maintained the hooked load while the sailors spread the sail in unison.

The RTC-80130 Series II works at a 50-foot radius during the lifts, and between a 60 and 70 degree boom angle to lift the sails into place. The operator’s cab is angled up as high as it can go to get a better view of the sails and rigging that are then lowered to the sailors waiting on the respective yard to pull and secure it tight.

According to Milt Ryan, director of NHHC Boston Detachment, the new crane needed to be rigged with 165 feet of boom height to go up and over the USS Constitution’s shroud and rigging, even at high tide. Shrouds are the ladder-like standing rigging which supports the masts.

While in dry dock, the copper sheathing on the USS Constitution’s lower hull will be replaced and non-destructive testing will determine the condition of her underwater oak frames.

Before the USS Constitution enters Dry Dock No. 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard in March of this year, the RTC-80130 Series II will have been used to prepare the dock that is also undergoing restoration to bring it up to a condition safe for the ship’s entry.

Dry Dock No. 1 opened in 1833 and is the second oldest dry dock in the United States. Twenty-nine new four-foot concrete keel blocks, weighing as much as 15,000 pounds each, will have been positioned on the floor of the dry dock where the ship will rest for her two-and-a-half year restoration period. The maneuverability of the RTC-80130 Series II will allow it to drive around the two sides and head of the 357-foot-long by 100-foot-wide by 32-foot-deep dry dock.

The crane has the capacity to reach more than 70 feet out, which will be useful when setting the keel blocks or working in the center of the ship.

Unstable crane closes road

The boom of a lattice crawler crane threatened to come down today across a major road and power lines in Chesterfield Virginia.

The crane a Terex crawler owned by Corman Construction was working on a road project when the boom started to go over the back. Fortunately it didn’t and worked on the site used web slings to try and anchor the boom in order to prevent the crane losing stability and overturning. An All Terrain was then called in to try and help lower the boom.

The utility company cut the power lines, while the police closed the road. As far as we know the recovery is ongoing. We are not quite sure what caused the boom to get into this condition. Although early indications are either a recoil effect from an unplanned load release or overluffing.

Profit spike at Kobelco Cranes

Kobe Steel, parent of Kobelco Cranes, has published its third quarter results, showing a sharp rise in profits within the crane business.

Total crane sales for the nine months to the end December were ¥51.7 billion ($440.6 million), an increase of 29.8 percent on the same period last year. Operating profit for the nine months leapt 75 percent to ¥4.5 billion ($38.3 million) with the rising trend continuing during the third and into the fourth quarter.

The company said: “The strong sales are due to higher shipments of crawler cranes in Japan due to continued strong demand from higher public investments and other factors. In overseas markets, sales increased in Asia, where demand continued to be strong, and in other regions.”

Kobelco Cranes expects the trend to continue and confirmed its full year forecasts of revenues of ¥71.6 billion ($610 million) – almost 27 percent higher than the previous year, while operating profits will be in the region of ¥5 billion ($42.6 million), 75 percent up on 2013/14.