Making Macau

The former Portuguese colony of Macau, only 37 miles from Hong Kong, occupies a small peninsula and two islands off China’s southern coast. It is the only part of China where casinos are permitted. Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau says that in 2007, its gambling revenues overtook the 40 casinos along Las Vegas Strip.

Macau reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1999 after 400 years of Portuguese rule, and although it is now part of China, has retained a large degree of autonomy. A law passed in 2001 saw the previous monopoly on Macau’s gambling lifted, and soon after the large US casino operators swiftly moved into the area, keen to exploit a lucrative new territory.

The new MGM Grand resort opened in January 2009, and construction continues on numerous other American investments. The new casinos are forming what is known as the Cotai Strip, Asia’s answer to its Nevada counterpart. At present, there are 26 hotel casinos in various stages of construction, and by 2010 the strip will host up to 30 resorts.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation’s (LVS) Venetian Macau officially opened in August 2007 and is the largest single structure building in all of Asia and second largest in the world. Modelled after the Venetian Las Vegas, it has 40 storeys covering 10,500,000 sq ft. It contains 3,000 guest suites, 30 restaurants, a 15,000 capacity arena for sporting and entertainment events, convention space and an 1,800-seat Cirque du Soleil theatre. The complex holds the largest casino in the world, 6,000 slot machines and 800 gambling tables spread over 550,000 sq ft. It cost USD2.4bn to build.

Whilst the main hotel tower opened in August 2007, work remains ongoing on other parts of the resort. Hsin Chong Engineering (Macau) ordered eight Yongmao topless STT series tower cranes from Hong Kong dealer AST Equipment (HK) for the project. From August 2007 to December 2008, a 24t-capacity STT553 was on site. Two other identical models assigned in March 2007 are still on site. Yongmao also has five 18t STT293 internal climbing cranes on site, that are still active from their original assignment in 2007.

However, despite the big plans for the region, the international economical climate has resulted in LVS facing severe difficulties. While the hotel itself is finished there are many other projects in the resort which are yet to be completed. Already, LVS has had to approach its backers for two emergency cash injections, and on 12 November 2008, the company was forced to abandon ongoing work, locking the site gates to thousands of construction staff with 11,000 workers losing their jobs overnight. The group has also been forced to lay off approximately 400 staff from the Venetian Macau Hotel. At present there are fears that should the casino sector suffer severely, development within the entire region could be jeopardised.

Another new build in the Cotai Strip is the City of Dreams, which is planned to open in July 2009. Located directly opposite The Venetian Macau, and owned by Melco Crown Entertainment, the structure is built across four main pillars made up of luxury hotel brands Hard Rock Hotel, the Hyatt Regency, the Grand Hyatt and the Crown Towers. Here, AST also supplied four STT293 cranes stationed from May 2007 to December 2008, and one 24t-capacity STT 553 to joint venture Leighton/China State/John Holland.

Yongmao has developed 50 models of tower cranes and derricks that it manufactures in China. The company recently acquired 66% of Beijing Yongmao Jiangong Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. With this new addition, the group will now have three manufacturing locations, in Fushun (Liaoning province), Beijing and a third plant in Wuxi (Jiangsu province).