A year in review

The first company to announce a product launch this year was Jekko, who in January expanded its articulated crawler crane range with a new model, the JF990.

In February, Klaas released its 6t K1100 RSX truck-mounted aluminium crane. In the same month, Potain launched a new hydraulic luffing jib crane, the MRH 175, which made its debut at ConExpo 2020 a month later. At the show, Manitowoc also launched the topless MDT 569 tower crane, the GMK6400-1 all terrain, the GRT8120 rough terrain, the NBT40-2 boom truck and the MLC150- 1 lattice boom crawler.

At ConExpo, Liebherr launched the four-axle LTM 1120-4.1 all terrain. Other launches in March came from Jekko—who launched the MPK06 minipicker—and Palfinger, who introduced the 60tm PK 55.002 TEC 5 and the PK 58.002 TEC 7.

Two months later, Palfinger introduced the PK 45.002 TEC 5 and PK 48.002 TEC 7 models. Also in May, HSC expanded its hydraulic crawler crane range with the addition of the 175t SCX1800A-3. A few days later, we covered the launch of Jaso’s J800.48 tow top and Wolffkran’s Wolff 235B luffer.

In July, Manitowoc expanded its MCT flat top tower crane range, with the addition of the MCT 275. Another product-related news story that month was the update of the CD4430R rough terrain rail crane by Manitex International.

The next product launch also came from Manitex, who a month later launched the TC450U utility crane. August was the month that Jekko chose to introduce its 5t battery-powered SPX650 mini crane. At the end of the month, Spanish tower crane manufacturer Comansa announced improvements across the entire 11LC range.

The first launch in September was of the first fully electric Maeda mini crane, the MC285CB-3. There was another new mini crane launch in the same month; new market player Palazzani introduced its first crane, the RPG 2900.

The following month, Manitowoc launched the 60USt National Crane NBT60XL boom truck, while Hyva added a 60tm family to its new Edge Line of truck-mounted cranes. In October, there was also the official launch of Tadano’s GTC-1800EX telescopic boom crawler crane. That was not the last launch of the month, as Liebherr unveiled its LTM 1150-5.3 all terrain.

November also had its surprises, which you can read in more depth in this issue. Manitex launched the 65USt TC65159 truck mounted crane, F.lli Ferrari added 14 crane models to its New Age Line, while (as you have seen on the cover) Sarens launched the SGC-90 electric ring crane.

There are still some weeks to go until the end of the year, let’s see if the manufacturers have some more surprises in store for this year. I am already looking forward to see what new products they will introduce to the market in 2021.

Sotiris Kanaris, Editor
sotiris.kanaris@cranestodaymagazine.com