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Crane auction raises $35 million

The Energy Crane auction in Casper, Wyoming, yesterday raised over $54 million, a new record at Ritchie Bros for a single owner sale.

The sale included 38 cranes, which fetched over $35 million. Around 3,000 on-site and online bidders competed to buy the cranes and transport equipment.

Highlights of the auction included a 500 tonne 2010 Liebherr LTM1500-8.1 All Terrain that fetched $3.35 million—the most expensive All terrain Crane sold by Ritchie Bros. to date.

Ritchie Bros chief executive Ravi Saligram said: “Our extremely successful Casper auction, featuring high-quality cranes, trucks and trailers, is one of the largest underwritten complete dispersals the Company has ever done”.

“The strong performance and pricing we achieved today reflects the power of Ritchie Bros.’ brand to reach and attract buyers from all over the world. This auction epitomized our strong customer relationships, our marketing prowess, our operational know-how, and most importantly the trust consignors place in us with their high-value fleets.”

750 tonne Liebherr LG 1750 for Baldwins

UK rental company Baldwins Crane Hire has taken delivery of a 750 tonne Liebherr LG 1750 lattice boom truck crane for its heavy crane division.

The LG 1750 combines the superstructure, booms and jibs from the LR 1750 crawler crane, with a compact eight axle 16x8x16 chassis.

Liebherr GB managing director Richard Everist said: “Baldwins are well established in the heavy crane sector and already have an impressive fleet of Liebherr cranes. The addition of the LG 1750 takes their capability to a new level and we are delighted to support their growth.”

Wayne Baldwin, heavy cranes sales director, added: “We are pleased to take delivery of the Liebherr LG 1750. It is the newest and most advanced crane in the heavy lift class. Some of our competitors’ fleets consist of heavy lift cranes that are over 30 years old, which would be better placed in museums!”

Tadano to expand Mantis plant

Tadano is investing $2.5 million to expand its Mantis crawler crane plant in Richlands, Virginia, adding at least 25 new jobs.

Mantis is based in Franklin, Tennessee, and apparently considered adding capacity in either of its two locations, but chose Virginia which offered a number of grants and other financial aid.

The announcement of the expansion was jointly made by Virginia’s governor Terry McAuliffe and Tadano’s Shiro Morita. McAuliffe said, “I am thrilled to announce this win for Tazewell County, creating 21st century jobs in sectors like advanced manufacturing is critical for diversifying the industrial base and building a new Virginia economy, and we are proud that Tadano Mantis is a part of our efforts.”

Morita- chief operating officer of Tadano Mantis – added: “We are very
excited about our Richlands plant expansion. We can hire more workers from local communities. We can have more suppliers and vendors locally, too. We are looking forward to seeing the completion of this expansion as soon as possible.”

Support for the state aid came from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority, and the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority which approved $140,000 of funding, while the Governor’s Opportunity Fund donated $100,000 to assist Tazewell County with the project.

The company is also eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, while employee training grants will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Doyle Rasnick, chairman of the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority said: “We are very excited for Tadano Mantis as they embark on an expansion that will bring more skilled jobs to our county. They have a product that is not only being sold in the USA, but also expanding throughout the world. Our board has taken pleasure in working with them and helping them get to this point and will continue to work even more closely as they grow in the future.”

Virginia senator Benton Chafin also got a word in, saying: “The new investment by Tadano Mantis Corporation is a big step forward in bringing much-needed manufacturing jobs to Tazewell County. Manufacturing is a key factor to economic growth and helping the citizens of Southwest Virginia find new jobs.”

Mantis telescopic crawler cranes were launched in 1979 after the manufacturing company Spandeck acquired the rights to the Turtle Telescopic cranes and introduced a nine and 11.9 tonne models. The company went on to introduce further models and also entered the special mobile cranes for re-railing and recovering locomotives as well as a number of other special heavy duty cranes.

Spandeck was acquired by Tadano from the Mitchell family in December 2008, and is gradually being integrated in to the business. The crawler crane line now ranges from 27 to 120 tonnes.

The company headquarters in Franklin is on the southern outskirts of Nashville, the plant in Richlands, is a quiet relatively remote town in the mountains of south west Virginia.

Liebherr opens maritime centre

Liebherr Africa has opened a new maritime crane sales and service centre in Durban, South Africa.

Located just outside of Durban, the new centre will offer sales, service and spare parts for all maritime products throughout southern Africa. As well as providing operator, technician and service staff training it will also feature maritime crane simulators for virtual training of ship to shore cranes, mobile harbour cranes, rubber tyre gantry cranes and offshore cranes.

The company said one of the main drivers for the new centre was a steady growth in demand, as well as its close cooperation with rail, port and pipeline company Transnet which operates more than 60 Liebherr cranes – 13 harbour cranes, 31 ship to shore container cranes and 18 rubber tyre gantry cranes.

Henner Rodenwoldt, Liebherr Africa Maritime Cranes divisional manager, said: “The investment in the new African maritime hub is very important for the maritime industry in southern Africa. It ensures fast and high quality customer service in terms of maintenance, spare parts supply and personnel training.”

Established in 1958, Liebherr Africa is a wholly owned subsidiary of the manufacturer, covering the local mining, construction and civil engineering industries.

Grove GHC demo launch

Manitowoc has launched the new Sennebogen built GHC series of telescopic crawler cranes to dealers and customers at an event at its Shady Grove factory plant.

The company used the Research & Development facility at the plant for introduction, with a full audio and video set-up that included lights, music and projection screens. A curtain dropped to a drum roll and attendees were invited to check out the new cranes.

All three models, the 50 tonne GHC55, 70 tonne GHC75 and 120 tonne GHC130, were on show at the event which was also attended by Sennebogen staff. After the hands on session the cranes were put through their paces outside, with details given about optional equipment which include: pole claw, auger and working platforms. All three cranes have load charts with the machine level as well as two and four degrees out of level.

Dave Hull, senior vice president global sales and marketing said: “From time to time, we look beyond our traditional borders to re-evaluate our portfolio to ensure we are offering our customers a complete line of lifting options to suit their needs. It’s with this in mind that we are introducing to you the new Grove GHC Telecrawler series, which we know will find plenty of use in the Americas, from utility projects to construction and everything in between.”

One of the attendees – David O’Connell, president of Grove and Manitowoc dealer Shawmut Equipment, said: “We expect that companies working in the utility, bridge-building and marine industries are going to find considerable use for these cranes, with their quick setup times, the 100 percent pick and carry capacities, and the ability to still pick a load when not completely level. We will certainly be stocking the new cranes.”

40t Tadano for Ellis

UK based crane hire company Ellis Crane Hire has taken delivery of a 40 tonne Tadano ATF 40G-2 All Terrain crane.

The compact two axle crane features a 35.2 metre main boom plus a nine metre swingaway which can be offset by zero, 20 and 40 degrees.

Joint company director Simon Ellis, said: “We have looked at Tadano and had conversations with them for many years. We have a strong sector of work with two axle machines and felt the time was right to enhance our fleet with a Tadano. The crane has an impressive duty chart and compact dimensions, ideal for modern sites and applications.”

Based in Brookthorpe, Gloucestershire, the family run business has been providing crane hire and contract lifting services throughout Gloucestershire for more than 25 years.