Excon 2007, Bangalore, India

Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd (ECEL) launched three new pick and carry cranes, with capacities from 16t–23t. ECEL is the largest manufacturer of yard cranes in India with more than 60% market share.

All models feature a 40kph (24.85mph) travelling speed and boom height of 21.5m. The largest model, the TRX 2319, has hydrostatic transmission for precise speed control and millimetre placing of loads.

Rajesh Sharma, associate vice president for marketing and sales, told Cranes Today, “One of the largest segments in India is small time hirers. They’re looking for a crane that is suitable for long distance travel between cities, without needing to be carried on a truck. On the project side, pick and carry cranes in India have traditionally only been used for material handling. The improved boom height and lifting capacity of the TRX series means that they can also be used for plant erection and installation. The customer loses the slew capacity of a truck crane, but the crane is a lot cheaper.”

The company is looking beyond India. Sharma said, “The pick and carry concept has only been taken up in India and Australia. We wanted to design something that had the safety and other features that would make it suitable for other countries.

“With these new cranes, we’ll also be looking to the Baltic states and eastern Europe. We think they would be accepted in Greece. If this goes well, we will be developing new cranes for sale in western Europe.”

ECEL has also entered into a marketing agreement with Alpha Services. Alpha, based in New Delhi, sells ECEL’s crane to customers in the Indian capital, but also manufactures its own mobile tower cranes, developed in partnership with Soima of Portugal. ECEL will now sell these across India.

Omega Construction Equipment launched a 20t hydraulic yard crane, the H20. Omega manufactures yard cranes with a lifting capacity ranging from 9t-16t capacity. The company also sells tower cranes made by Chinese manufacturer Huba.

Action Construction Equipment launched the TM 230 truck mounted mobile crane. The crane has a lifting capacity of 23t at 3.2 metre working radius and a boom length of 12.5m.

Palfinger's 6.2t capacity PK 15500 B knuckle-boom crane was on show. The crane has a maximum hydraulic outreach of 14.5m. In October, the Austrian manufacturer signed a deal with Dubai-based ETA Star Western Auto to distribute and service the Austrian firm’s cranes in India. The new business, Star Palfinger, will be headquartered in Chennai.

Western Auto business head D.P.K. Menon said that the auxiliary pumps, pump brackets, propeller shaft and sub frame for the cranes are manufactured by Western Auto for Palfinger, which then mounts them on the truck. Palfinger has sold eight PK 15500 B cranes in India in 2007. It also has plans to introduce its other high capacity cranes for the
Indian market.

Chowgule, the Indian-based partner of Japanese crane manufacturer Furukawa, showed its 3t-capacity URV-500 crane with 15m boom. Arjun Chowgule, senior manager, said the company has sold 100 units of the URV-500 since the collaboration began in 2005. Chowgule also displayed a hydraulic tractor crane, with lifting capacity of 2.9t and a maximum working radius of 12m, that is used for rural electrification projects.

Tower cranes were the most common type of crane on show, and most were Chinese, sold through Indian dealers or in technical and commercial joint ventures. Indian tower crane distributors said the Indian construction market grew at a rate of 30 percent per year, and the market requires towers with a capacity of 6t–10t.

Tower cranes have been finding increased use in real estate and commercial construction across India. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and industry of India, India’s real estate market will expand from USD16bn (INR 700bn) to $60bn (INR 2,380bn) by the year 2010.

Zoomlion tower cranes were shown by Indian dealer Action Construction Equipment (ACE). ACE has sold over 192 Zoomlion cranes in India since the companies partnered in May 2005.

 SYM displayed its F0/23B tower crane, which can lift 10t at 3.2m radius. At 50m jib-end, the crane lifts 2.3t, and has a maximum working height of 238m. SYM tower cranes are marketed in India by Houston Machinery (China) Company Limited, based in Hong Kong. The company's business development executive, A. Jawed, said SYM has sold a total of 10 units of the F0/23B and smaller sibling the F15/15 models in the past year. The F15 has a jib length of 50m and 6t lifting capacity. Jawed said Houston has plans to set up office in India.

 The JWY C5013 tower crane was also displayed. The crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 6t at 2.3m working radius, while it can lift 1.3t at 50m jib-end. JWY co- manufacturers and sells its tower cranes through Mumbai-based Spartan Engineering Industries. According to Spartan managing director Vikram Mehta, the company has sold 28 C5013 models in 2007 since its collaboration with JWY began. Spartan expects to sell 35 units of JWY tower cranes in 2008.

 Also exhibiting was Jianglu Machinery Group of China, which sells its tower cranes through Indian subsidiary Syncon Infrastructure Services India. Syncon CEO Sandeep Nirmal said his company has sold 120 Jianglu tower cranes in India in 2007.

Model JL 5015 (QTZ 63F) can lift 1.5t at the end of its 50m jib, and its maximum lifting capacity is 6t. Its bigger sibling, Model JL 5515 (QTZ80F) has a maximum lifting capacity of 8t and can lift 1.5t at the end of its 55m jib.

 The show's crawler crane presence was heavily weighted toward Japan and China.

Sany displayed the 55t SCC 500 D crawler, which has a 55m boom. Sany has sold about 30 crawlers in India in the last year. Sany crawlers are sold through dealers and the company’s own marketing network. The cranes are currently imported from China, but Kingman Ge, Sany Heavy Industry India regional manager, said that Sany crawler cranes would soon be manufactured in India.

Hitachi-Sumitomo's SCX 900-2 crawler crane was also on show. The crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 90t at 4m and maximum boom length of 60m. Hitachi Sumitomo crawler cranes are sold and serviced by Telcon, a subsidiary of Indian industrial giant Tata. Telcon also distributes Tadano all terrains in India.

Kobelco was also present, through distributor Voltas. According to Voltas divisional manager, construction equipment, Milind Anjankar, 38 Kobelco crawlers have been sold in India in 2006 and 2007.

India is the destination of one of the largest crawler cranes in the world. Liebherr India marketing manager Kaustav Mallick said the firm would be deploying its 1,350t-capacity LR 11350 crawler crane for construction of a nuclear power project at Kalpakkam in Southern India. It would also be supplying a 200t all terrain crane to JSWL Steel for construction of a steel plant.