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Global Parts Centre for Kobelco

Kobelco Cranes Co has officially opened its Global Parts Centre in Singapore which started operations at the beginning of this year. The opening ceremony was attended by Akihiko Tsukamoto chief executive of Kobelco Cranes together with senior company executives, dignitaries, Kobelco dealers, business partners and associates.

The new centre is strategically located to supply both the Asia Pacific and Australasia region as well as Europe, Africa and the Middle East, from a single location. The initial stock holding is valued at ¥400 million ($340,000) and will be expanded to¥ 1 billion ($850,000) by 2020.

The opening ceremony included a reception on Thursday at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, with chief executive Akihiko Tsukamoto and other members of the senior management team officiating. The function was also attended by Mike Lee, senior manager of International Enterprise Singapore and other dignitaries.

Tsukamoto said: “The Global Parts Centre in Singapore is one of our strategies to increase our presence in this region and through this facility we can further enhance the level of customer satisfaction with more prompt availability of our service parts in the APAC region, as well as in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.”

“The Global Parts Centre in Singapore can supply the parts within 36 hours after confirmed order and as a result we are hoping to increase our parts sales of 1.3 billion JPY ($11 million) in 2014 to 2 billion JPY ($17 million) in five years,” said Toshiyuki Hiromitsu, head of customer support for Kobelco Cranes.

Kobelco is increasing its parts stock in Kobelco Global Parts Centre to 400 million JPY ($3.4 million) in 2015 and is planning to expand to 1 billion JPY ($8.5 million) by 2020.

New hotel in a large harbour crane

A company in the Netherlands has opened a new hotel in a large harbour crane in Amsterdam.

Located on the NDSM Wharf, which was previously a shipyard for the construction and restoration of large ships between 1984 and 1979, the Faralda NDSM hotel has completely renovated the 50 metre, free-slewing crane to incorporate three lavishly furnished hotel suites. It also features a TV and music broadcasting studio and a hot tub on the top of the crane offering a view of the rive IJ and the city of Amsterdam.

The cost for any crane fanatic to stay for the night is €435 and for an extra €85 you can bungee jump from the top!

Amazingly this isn’t the first harbour crane in the Netherlands to be converted, as there is one in the harbour town of Harlingen, in Friesland.

Crane operator died in the Netherlands

A crane operator died in the Netherlands saturday after his crane ploughed into a roundabout embankment in early morning fog.

The five axle 120 tonne crane was towing a three axle counterweight trailer as it drove down the N34 in foggy conditions towards the roundabout under the N33, near Gieten, and carried straight onto the large earth embankment on the centre of the roundabout.

The crane’s carrier engine caught fire but was quickly extinguished, it took some time though to reach the driver, as the cab was embedded in the embankment. By the time they did he was dead. The crane, owned by rental company Kielstra, was removed from the embankment later in the day. No one else was involved in this sad incident.

Sennebogen and Manitowoc launch crawlers

Crane manufacturers Sennebogen and Manitowoc have signed an agreement to produce a series of telescopic crawler cranes at the Straubing location in Lower Bavaria, Germany.

The agreement is for the production of telescopic crawler cranes for the North and South American market. The crawlers will be produced by Sennebogen and sold using the Manitowoc Grove brand name, a company spokesperson said.

The new models include the GHC55, GHC75, and GHC130 telescoping crawler cranes. The GHC series has a compact footprint, which provides excellent manoeuvrability on the job site, a spokesperson said.

Mike Herbert, global product director for rough-terrain cranes at Manitowoc, said, “The GHC series is for customers that need a compact, manoeuvrable crane that can face the rigors of merciless terrain. With minimal transport requirements, 100 per cent pick and carry ability and a telescoping boom, these cranes will prove very nimble in both getting to and navigating job sites.”

The GHC Series cranes are fully supported by Manitowoc Crane Care’s service network. A variety of attachments are available for the models, including an auger attachment and pole claw, ideal for companies working on power line projects.

The Grove GHC55 has a 55 US ton (50 tonne) capacity and 30.4 m main boom length. The total crane length with boom retracted is 10.7 m long and crane retracted width is 3.5 m. It has an overall height of 3.2 m.

The Grove GHC75 has a 77 ton (70 tonne) capacity and 36 m main boom length. The total crane length with boom retracted is 13 m and crane retracted width is 3.2 m. It has an overall height of 3.2 m.

The Grove GHC130 has a 132 tone (120 tonne) capacity and 40.2 m main boom length. The total crane length with boom retracted measures just 15.3 m long and crane retracted width is 3.9 m wide. It has an overall height of 4 m. All three cranes feature Tier 4 final compliant Cummins engines.

Manitowoc will offer services for maintenance, service, spare parts, and financing. The equivalent products from the Sennebogen product range (the Sennebogen 653, 673, and 6113) will not be offered in these sales regions.

The contract was signed in November 2014, with production beginning in 2015.

Crane collision closes road

A coach/bus clipped a city type All Terrain crane this morning as it overtook it, while heading north on the M11 motorway, near the M-25 in the UK, blocking one lane on the section between junction five and six.

The two axle crane – a 20 tonne Kobelco RK200 – owned by Emerson Crane Hire – skidded on the icy road after it was clipped, and overturned onto the verge. The crane operator – miraculously- was completely unhurt, as were the coach driver and his five passengers. This was though one of the few times that a crane has come off worse in a road accident than the other vehicle.

Two hours after the incident however, with the lane closed due to an oil spill, four cars were involved in an incident as they passed the scene. Two women are currently being treated for head and neck injuries.

Record year for Liebherr harbour cranes

Liebherr’s mobile harbour crane division has reported a record year in crane sales for 2014, with deliveries up 9.8 percent from its previous record set in 2008.

Celebrating its 40th year since delivering its first mobile harbour crane, the company delivered a total of 112 units to six continents last year – a 9.8 percent increase from 2008 when the company sold a record 102 mobile harbour cranes.

Europe remains the company’s largest market, accounting for 38 percent of its shipments, while the African market tripled last year’s sales numbers to account for nearly 30 percent. This was due, in part, to a substantial order of 20 units from port operators in Algeria, which almost doubled the total number of units delivered to Algeria since its first in 1995. Latin America and Asia both accounted for 13 percent, while the company also delivered units to the Middle East, North America and Oceania.

The LHM 550 was the most successful model with 35 units shipped worldwide, while the number of LHM280s more than doubled from 2013 to 23 units.

Matthias Mungenast, Liebherr mobile harbour cranes sales director, said: “For a fantastic year like 2014 several factors have to come together. We started with a record order backlog into the year. Throughout the year demand for our cargo handling solution was very stable on a high level. Moreover, large orders helped to significantly increase the population of Liebherr mobile harbour cranes. Finally, we broke the existing record by nearly 10 percent, which is amazing considering the economic environment.”

The company also confirmed its order backlog for 2015 is one of the highest to date and is highly optimistic for 2015.