HERE'S CONEXPO

More than 100,000 construction industry representatives are expected to descend on Las Vegas, Nevada between 23-27 March to attend this year’s premier construction plant and materials exhibition, Conexpo-Con/Agg 99. When the show was last held in 1996 nearly 15,000 visitors came from outside the USA. This year the organisers are anticipating as many as 20,000 international visitors from 110 different countries, making Conexpo a truly global affair.

As well as more visitors, there is more on show at Conexpo 99. The number of exhibitors has risen from fewer than 1,300 in 1996 to more than 1,700 this year, occupying exhibition space up 42% to 1.7m sq.ft (156,000m2, or nearly 16ha).

Of course, Conexpo is still only about a third the size of the 43ha Bauma 98, with only a quarter the number of visitors, but with the North American crane industry riding high, Conexpo-Con/Agg 99 is the event that matters more than any other in our industry this year.

Once at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, the place to head for to see most of the cranes and related lifting equipment is the outdoor Silver Lot, though the South Hall must also be visited as many lifting industry exhibitors such as manufacturers of components or accessories will be inside. In fact, wherever you go you are sure to find something of interest, so much is there to see, but the organisers have done their best to create product concentration areas to group together companies that provide related services, so as to keep to a minimum the time spent trying to find your way around.

Over the pages that follow we present a list of lifting industry exhibitors and, where information has been made available in advance, brief details of what they are showing.