Penny Hydraulics agrees US Swing Lift deal

QT Equipment will initially sell cranes designed and manufactured in the UK, and in the future will manufacture and assemble cranes under license in the US, using designs and critical components supplied by Penny Hydraulics.

Swing Lift vehicle-mounted cranes are designed to handle loads up to 2t, and can be installed on almost any kind of commercial vehicle.

“Customers in the USA are becoming more aware of the need for safe and efficient load handling when using their commercial vehicles and we see huge potential for this market,” said Bill Penney, articulated cranes sales manager at QT Equipment.

“Penny Hydraulics has a great range of cranes that will complement our existing products very well and allow us to offer a new capability to our customers.”

Penny Hydraulics has already supplied cranes to QT Equipment, with a 1.2t capacity Swing Lift V12 crane installed on a large vehicle used by a construction company for ground stabilisation work. The customer needed a crane that could handle drill casings and pipe sections, which required QT Equipment and Penny Hydraulics to work together to devise a modified version of the standard V12 crane that met the customer’s specification. This was then manufactured in the UK before being shipped to QT Equipment for installation.

“The feedback we received from the customer was very positive,” said QT Equipment's Penney. “Special one-off cranes are important in this market but we see great potential for the smaller standard models that Penny Hydraulics supplies for the lighter commercial vehicles.”

“Around four million commercial vehicles in the 1-18t range are sold in the USA each year,” said Richard Short, sales director at Penny Hydraulics. “This is the type of vehicle where our cranes are typically installed.

“With QT Equipment we have a new partner that understands our business and has access to a market that is ready for our type of product.”