Cranes on the beach

CICA, the Crane Industry Council of Australia, is having its annual conference, exhibition and crane display at the Cairns Convention Centre in Cairns, Queensland, on the 15–17 of September.

Apart from business networking, attendees will have the opportunity to watch presentations and listen to speeches on industry issues and practices by company executives.

Among the speakers are Jens Ennen - senior vice president, mobile cranes Europe & Africa at Manitowoc - who will discuss about the design life impact on the 10 year major inspection, and director product strategy at Terex Cranes Germany Klaus Meissner, who will analyse why a stiffer boom increases the entire capacity.

Andrew Esquilant from Liebherr will also be there to speak about the single engine concept on large cranes.

There will also be two presentations from local experts focusing on slinging. On the Friday, Rob Wright of local rental giant Boom Logistics, will share some lessons learnt from the use of slings. On Saturday morning, Andrew Taylor, of rigging firm Bullivants, will present a breakfast meeting on slinging awareness.

Safety remains an important part of the agenda on Saturday, as Glen Cook of power transmission and electrical supplier Ergon Energy discusses safe working around powerlines.

Australians have a reputation for straight talking, and CICA’s panel discussions live up to this, providing a welcome platform for frank conversations. The manufacturer’s panel, which regular features senior executives from crane builders around the world is always a big draw.

There will also be a local crane owner’s panel, featuring Paul Churchill of DJ Adair Cranes; Chris Kolodziej, Cranes Combined; Marcus Ridley, Load 28; Brenton Salleh, Boom Logistics; Joachim Schlack, Universal Cranes; and Paul Williams, Williams Cranes & Rigging.

There will be a crane display, located on Grafton Street in the car park immediately adjacent to the Cairns Convention Centre. In this space, people will be a able to see a range of crane models from various manufacturers.

2016 CICA Conference features three evening events, a dinner on Thursday and pre-dinner drinks and gala awards dinner on Saturday.