The comeback trail

While demand for the ubiquitous Franna pick-and-carry crane remains decimated with annual demand down to approximately 50 cranes compared to around 400 at its peak, there are positive signs with used crane prices rising and availability becoming more scarce.

The latest survey of property and construction group Rider Levett Bucknall revealed 288 tower cranes working in the greater Sydney region, saying “the current boom is unprecedented with more cranes in the air at any time since the launch of the Crane Index in August 2012 and with a 35% increase in the past six months”. While Sydney accounting for two-thirds of new cranes erected nationally since September 2015, Melbourne is also very busy with 148 tower cranes in the air. Driving the demand is residential construction accounting for 239 of Sydney’s cranes while the commercial construction sector is employing just 22 tower cranes and civil projects the remaining 16 cranes. As in London, the residential building boom is driving house prices through the roof and also squeezing scarce skilled labour resources, also contributing to spiraling costs.

All terrain crane demand is also rising. Having peaked at over 200 new crane sales in 2011, 2015 witnessed a third straight year of decline with demand falling to under 30% of the 2011 level. Throughout this cycle Liebherr has steadfastly held onto its market leading position that has continued to average 50%.

“We’re very optimistic that the market has turned the corner,” says Andrew Esquilant, general manager of Liebherr Australia’s crane division.

“Demand for the 60t LTM 1060- 3.1 is incredible. Thanks to its very long 48m boom it’s finding work that would normally demand larger cranes of 80–100t capacity”.

Customers like Capital Cranes in the ACT and Borger Cranes in Sydney are amongst companies ordering multiple LTM 1060s while Melbourne-based Sergi Cranes and Williamstown Crane Hire are amongst customers that have added the new 60-tonner to their fleets.

“One of our big successes is our VarioBase infinitely variable outrigger system,” says Esquilant. “It’s changed the way that crane operators look at a project. It’s now not simply a boom length-radius capacity equation. The physical orientation of the crane relative to the lift can substantially increase lifting capacity. It’s been phased in across most of our line since 2014 and in the past two years we’ve delivered around 50 cranes with VarioBase and today very few customers choose not to purchase this option”.

The introduction of VarioBase is also having a very beneficial impact on sales of Liebherr’s LTC 1050- 3.1 compact crane with its unique elevating single cab. Customers like Queensland’s Mike Hanchard has traded in his 2011 and 2012 LTC 1045-3.1 cranes and ordered two new 50t capacity LTC 1050-3.1s.

In what appears to have been a very ‘clean’ deal, Sydney’s Borger Cranes has further expanded its large fleet with the acquisition of Hanchard’s LTC 1045-3.1s that have been completely refurbished and updated at Liebherr’s Erskine Park repair facility to the degree that they appear indistinguishable from brand new cranes. Mid-range ATs are also seeing improving demand with WGC Cranes and Gillespies Cranes, both based in NSW, acquiring new 100t and 130t five-axle Liebherrs.

While Liebherr remains the dominant player in Australia’s all terrain crane market, Grove continues to enjoy major successes with its larger models. To date some 23 300t GMK 6300Ls have been delivered, with 13 of these in Western Australia where the big mining companies appreciate its 80m long boom and roadability.

Sydney’s Danny Adair of D.J. Adair told Cranes Today: “Up until a week ago we hadn’t lost a week of service in the four years we’ve had the 6300L. We just had to replace a boom wear pad. So far the crane has travelled over 25,000km and we’ve put 3,700 hours on the upper. The most challenging job its done was to place 36m roof sheets weighing 700kgs at 96m radii on fully boom and luffing jib, while the heaviest lift we’ve done was to lift a rail tamper (small locomotive) weighing 114t.”

Adding to the success of the 300-tonner, Grove’s John Stewart told Cranes Today: “We have seven 400-tonne GMK 6400s already sold to customers in Sydney, Adelaide and New Zealand with two on the water. These cranes are really the largest that can go on the road in the eastern States without pulling the boom out. The luffer has awesome capacities and is proving very attractive for tower crane work”. Stewart also has high hopes for the new 250t GMK 5250L. “We have 10 orders so far with six in the country and four with customers already”.

The first customer to take delivery of the new 250-tonner was Turner & Central whose director Graeme Jenkins says: “The crane arrived in June and went straight to the Cadia Gold Mine in North Parkes to assist in repairing a rock crusher and since then its worked on a variety of jobs including pre-cast concrete panel building construction”.

Jenkins’ crane was the 52nd GMK 5250L sold—a total that by the end of September had climbed to 83 units. “What attracted us to the crane was its all-round package, its long boom length and importantly its counterweight configuration. It has no big counterweight slabs weighing over 10t and in New South Wales that allows us to transport it on three trucks. This saves us an additional haul truck which is a major cost saving compared to competitors’ cranes,” says Jenkins.

“Our policy is to stick with Franna, Grove and Liebherr - we don’t want a yard full of zebras.”

Despite the weakened state of the mining business that fuelled Australia’s economic boom for the past decade, the annual CICA Conference was another resounding success. Held for the first time in tropical Cairns in the far north of Queensland, the cost of inland transportation meant a much reduced crane display which was highlighted by a Terex-Demag AC 140 sold locally to Century Cranes. Nevertheless, attendance held up very well and almost all business sessions were well received. Praise for the job being done by CICA CEO Brandon Hatch is widespread.

One highlight of the conference was the ‘Owners panel’, held for only the second year, offering a most valuable and interesting insight into current customer concerns. Brenton Salleh, general manager of Boom Logistics operations in Victoria and South Australia emphasized the growing issue of demands made by Australian Tier-one (larger) contractors on crane hirers: “They don’t like you to even get on the deck of a semi-trailer to help load or uncouple a machine or to help handle counterweights and other gear. [Despite all the new guard rails now on mobile cranes] they insist that we use elevating work platforms or mobile ladders to inspect machines. This is a real issue, adding cost and wasting time.” CICA has been lobbying the Contractors Association but with little success.

Joachim Schalck, general manager of Albert Smith’s Queensland-based Universal Cranes says: “The biggest issue is still getting access to roads. We’ve tried to get TMR (New South Wales road authorities) to talk with us but it’s very difficult”. Literally for decades, Australia’s crane hirers have fought a frustrating battle with the various State Governments and many hundreds of local councils to allow cranes and other special purpose vehicles such as heavy trucks, to be able to travel more freely without being encumbered by onerous permit demands and costs. Today getting even a medium-sized four-axle crane on most of Australia’s roads remains an exercise overcoming bureaucratic barriers.

The latest report on Australia’s road regulations was released in April by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and discussed at the conference in a presentation made by NHVR’s John Gilbert and Matthew Bereni. Although there have been some advances in granting permit-free access to some of Australia’s roads, crane owners were adamant that the NHVR has had little impact. “There’s been no benefit so far from NHVR,” complained Schalck, speaking for the crane owners. “Our biggest issue remains access to roads”.

Salleh added: “Going from one state to another has gone backwards.” New South Wales crane association chairman, Paul Churchill of D.J. Adair put it plainly: “The NHVR needs to stop its softly-softly approach to the local councils and the governments and get more aggressive”. Churchill added that the cost of crane manufacturers spare parts remains excessive—a view shared by his colleagues on the Owners Panel.

Justifiably, for many years, the Australian crane industry has been held up as a shining example of best practice, especially in regard to health and safety-related issues. At the forefront since 2002 has been the voluntary ‘CraneSafe’ regime under which crane owners submit their cranes for annual inspection.

On the mandatory regulation front, Australia has long been an enthusiastic and serious contributor to ISO and emission regulations with a background going back over 50-years to the establishment of the first Australian (AS) crane standards initially based on British Standards but evolving into EU and ISO standards.

While academic observers might still sit in praise of the Australian crane market ‘environment’ for many years now not all has been well for the actual crane hirers that participate in this market.

Second in the long list of issues for crane hirers is the ’10-year inspection’ under which irrespective of the condition of the crane and the nature and duration of actual work done, cranes are subjected to very costly inspections that often involve opening up the slew ring and hoist drives and ultrasonically testing weldments. In addition to taking the crane out of service for many weeks and often months, these inspections can cost anything up to hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars and according to the size of crane—for a two-four axle machine it can easily cost AUD50–70,000 (€35–50,000). “It’s imperative that we get across the line with revising the terms of the ten-year inspection,” says Universal’s Schalck. “It should be based on actual useage [of the crane and its actual components such as its hoists, etc.] not on calendar age.”

Controversy has also been sparked following the recent State-wide power-outages in South Australia. This State has the greatest dependence upon renewable energy of anywhere in Australia with 76 wind farms operating 2,062 turbines generating 4,187 Mw. In 2015 wind turbines produced just 4.9% of Australia’s overall electricity and there is talk of further massive investments in wind energy.

On July 20th, The Australian newspaper reported that wind turbines in South Australia were using more power than they had generated during the State’s electricity crisis. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willcox said that the rise in electricity prices, already the highest in the country, had disrupted industry and served as a wake-up call to the nation, calling it “a serious blow to energy users, disrupting supply chains upon which thousands of jobs depend”.

Nevertheless, prospects of another surge in wind farm construction has persuaded McNally’s to return to the Australian market after a short absence. To meet these requirements McNally’s has taken delivery of a new 750t LG 1750 lattice truck crane and also imported 500t and 130t Liebherr all terrains. Also adding to the heavy cranes available in the Eastern States is the only LTM 1750 in the country with its owner, Mick Joyce, transporting the machine from Western Australia. To facilitate roading in the East, the crane is having a boom removal system installed at Liebherr’s crane repair ship in Erskine Park, NSW.

The big splash at the show was undoubtedly the unveiling of the new Franna AT 40. This is by far the largest Franna ever built and for its manufacturer, the boldest engineering project in its history. The AT 40 is the first three-axle crane and by far the largest with a pick-and- carry capacity of 40t on boom lug and 30t on hook block. Powered by the same Mercedes OM 906 205kW diesel and Allison automatic transmission used on the popular 25t Mac 25, the new crane has a four-section 19.8m full-power boom offering 19m maximum hook height. On site the rear (third) axle is raised on its hydro-pneumatic suspension to provide 4x4 wheel drive and the same wheelbase as the Mac 25 while on the highway the 29.5t GVW crane travels at up to 75km/hr with axle loads of up to 11.5t fully counterweighted.

Prototypes of the new crane are currently undergoing extensive trials and production is scheduled to start second quarter 2017. Forecast price is under AUD600,000.

Since taking on the Sennebogen account in 2009, distributor PACE Cranes has steadily progressed in creating demand for its line of tele boom crawler cranes. “2015 was our breakthough year,” says PACE managing director Anthony Heeks. “We’re now closing-in on 50 Sennebogen cranes sold. Since taking their first 16t 613R in August 2014, Marcus Preston’s Preston Hire has taken seven cranes including their largest, a 70t 673E this past July”.

Preston Hire is Australia’s leading provider of mini tele boom crawler cranes with a nationwide fleet of Maedas supplied over many years by PACE Cranes. However, PACE no longer has Preston’s business all to itself - having just ordered two 60-tonne Liebherr LTR 1060 tele boom crawler cranes. Joining Preston as a Sennebogen fleet owner is WGC Cranes of Wollongong, Smeaton Grange and Moss Vale, NSW.

Under the smart guidance of Marc Sergi and Rob McGuiness managing WGC’s dry and wethire sectors respectively, since taking its first 40t Sennebogen 643 in May 2015, the company has acquired a further 10 Sennebogens, most recently adding a 70t 673E.