February leader - Keeping your cranes on File

As always, there is no size limit; any company that owns at least one crane can be listed. However, we have enhanced this year’s edition to incorporate the changing size and capacity of the world’s rental fleets.

Current market conditions are a test of rental firms’ flexibility. Demand is for large capacity lifting equipment—Manitowoc’s new 31000 boasts a 2,300t (2,535 USt) capacity—and rental companies are downsizing their fleets in units but upping them in capacity. Our crawler and mobile crane sections now include more detail at higher capacities.

As our results will no doubt show, some fleets have changed radically, others less so. Interestingly, it’s not only the big players—Ainscough last year bought six new large crawlers, and Essex Crane is working to increase average capacities across its fleet—who can adapt.

As Richard Everist, the managing director of Liebherr Great Britain told me in last November’s interview, a rental firm with less than 20 cranes in its fleet recently bought a 1,200t capacity crane.

It’s a set of market conditions that make Fleet File all the more important to our 19,000 readers. We’re also welcoming completed forms from building contractors, in addition to rental companies, for the first time.

Last year, we stated ownership of 38,000 cranes in 50 countries around the world, organised first by region (Asia, Europe, Middle?East &?Africa, North America and South America) and then by country. We list the number of cranes each company has by type and lifting capacity: broadly speaking, wheeled mobile cranes, crawler cranes and tower cranes. We also note what other types of lifting equipment are available, and the number of depots.

I remind you, entry to this listing is free and open to anyone who owns at least one crane, whether they’ve featured in previous editions or not. You’ll find this year’s application form overleaf, on p7. Alternatively, you can fill your details in online at cranestodaymagazine.com/fleetfile