Demand in North Africa is largely, but not quite exclusively, based on the region’s vast oil and gas wealth and the increasing global demand for those resources. During the past five years, almost 2,000 new mobile cranes (telescopic and lattice boom, rubber-tyred and crawler) have been imported to the region. This is more than double the volume of the preceding ten years.
Approximately 50% of recent demand has come from Algeria. Up on until 2011, Libya had also dramatically increased its new crane imports.
Studying the growth in the region’s crane market, obviously one cannot ignore the impact of the Chinese manufacturers. Almost all of the Chinese cranes sold over the past five-to-six years have been telescopic truck cranes, with maybe 900-1,000 units sold. The vast majority of these have been small three-axle cranes of 20-35t capacity. The most interesting aspect to this development is that in the preceding decade truck cranes accounted for only just in excess of 25% of total new crane imports while almost 60% were all terrains and with the exception of a very few lattice crawlers, the remainder were rough terrains. By comparison, in the past five years, rough terrain sales have strengthened to take over 27% of total demand and while the number of all terrains sold has doubled compared to the prior ten years, their share of the total has reduced by more than half to 25% of the total. Typically the most popular sizes of all terrains sold in the region are in the 50-80t classes – substantially greater than almost all the truck crane being sold.
Liebherr is the clear all terrain crane market leader with a share as high as 50% and its LTM 1055 and 1070 the best-selling models.
Wolfgang Beringer, Marketing Manager, Liebherr Werk Ehingen confirmed "Algeria has developed very well in 2012. It’s the largest market in the North Africa and we have a share of approximately 55%. We also see positive signals in Tunisia and Morocco but due to the political situations, the markets in Egypt and Libya are poor. Overall in North Africa we enjoy a share currently at 52%."
Algeria is the 6th largest gas exporter with the world’s 10th largest reserves and also ranks 16th in world oil reserves. The economy remains state-dominated – a legacy of its post-independence socialist model. With reserves of an estimated 12bn barrels of exceptionally high-quality crude Algeria’s economy is the most dependent on hydrocarbons of any North African country. Aging deposits had seen declining production from 2007 to 2010 but since 2011 the Algerian Government increased public spending on construction and public works.
For many years the Algerian Government has been investing in the development of a network of large gravity dams and tunnels to collect and deliver water to its people and irrigate land in its most arid regions. The latest of these is the Tabellout Dam, being constructed some 350km from Algiers as part of the eastern system of the Setif Hodna project.
One of the largest projects in Algeria’s history, the contract was awarded by Algeria’s National Agency for Dams & Transfers (ANBT) to specialist French contractor Razel-Bec who seven years ago had successfully built the similar Koudiat Acerdoune dam. Having used two 12t capacity Potain MD 345 24/7 on that earlier project, the contractor had no hesitation in drawing the same two cranes from its fleet for the new job, supplemented by a 16t capacity Potain MD 365 rented from Arcomet. With a total of 1m cu m of concrete to be used in the dam, the cranes operate with concrete skips of 2 and 3 cu m respectively at radii up to 75m and heights up to 135m. Meanwhile an 8t capacity Potain MD 175 from Razel-Bec’s fleet is being used to handle concrete sections on the headrace tunnel construction.
Much of Algeria’s the original oil and gas infrastructure was built by Japanese plant builders and contractors like Chiyoda who in turn introduced Japanese truck and crawler cranes to the market. As a consequence many hundreds of Tadano truck cranes joined the Grove, P&H and Koehring rough terrains that were supplied during the 1970s and early 1980s. These big investments in imported machinery did not miss the attention of the country’s socialist government, which in the mid- 1970s decided it needed its own crane and construction machinery manufacturing industry in order to avoid the drain on its precious foreign currency reserves.
The Algerians certainly aimed high, selecting Liebherr, Potain, O&K and Ingersoll-Rand as licensors for a range of telescopic boom mobile cranes, hydraulic excavators, tower cranes, wheel loaders and air compressors. Even more impressively, the Algerians commissioned Liebherr to design a manufacturing plant along the same lines as the company’s impressive facilities in Europe. The contract was inked in 1976 and a remarkable plant built at Ain Smara, near Constantine. In 1983 ENMTP (Societe Nationale de Constructions Mechaniques) began manufacturing operations.
With the ban on the import of used cranes, the new state-owned enterprise had mainstream domestic demand pretty-well wrapped-up. However, thirty years on, the product line of ENMTP looks just as it did all those years ago – four models of Potain GMR "rapid" erection cranes and one model of GTA hammerhead crane, three models of Liebherr telescopics – the 25t LT 1025 and 40t LT 1040 boom trucks crane and LTM 1030 30t all terrain. With no radical design changes, these cranes are only ‘sellable’ in a centrally controlled economy from one government department to another.
With the ever growing global focus on LNG, 2012 was another good year for imported crane sales as Algeria’s GDP grew by an estimated 2.6% to $206bn. And in the wake of the Arab Spring, the government is now being forced to rethink its economic approach and change policies that have long restricted direct foreign investment. Over the course of the past five years, approximately 1,200 new mobile cranes have been imported – excluding those brought in by contractors and European crane rental companies for their own use and rental operations. It’s a clear reflection of the chronic shortage of cranes that existed in the country, caused by years of import restrictions including a ban on used-crane imports (until 2006) and dependence of ENMTP’s outdated product offerings. There has been a steady market for imported mobile cranes for these past 10-15-years with the majority of the new cranes purchased by Government agencies as well as a few crane hire companies, but this market centred on medium-sized all terrain cranes in the 40-80t classes, bolstered by a healthy smattering of larger five-axle all terrains in the 90-220t classes, invaluable for work in oil and gas facilities in remote desert environments.
But it’s now clear that a huge pent-up demand existed for low cost small cranes needed for general crane service in construction and maintenance as well for use in the hydrocarbon industries. During these past fiveto- six years, this is a sector that has been grabbed with both hands by the Chinese manufacturers and most especially by XCMG. During this period, the Xuzhou-based manufacturer has established itself as the dominant truck crane supplier to Algeria, selling well in excess of 300 truck cranes, but they have not had this sector completely to themselves. Over the past six years Sany’s local distributor SOCOPE Sarl has also had successes with truck as well as crawler cranes. Indeed Sany Heavy Industries North Africa has established a major regional parts depot in Algiers.
Naturally this recent ‘flood’ of new small truck crane imports has swollen the number of local startup crane hire companies as well as boosting the fleets of local contractors and government agencies. The vast majority of these have been three-axle truck cranes in the 20-to-35t capacity classes but there have also been interesting quantities of 50t and larger truck cranes. While these truck cranes certainly have the boom lengths to compete with similar-sized all terrains, clearly there are severe travel issues for truck cranes in the desert and in the larger capacity classes it is still European All Terrains that are strongly preferred. As usual, in addition to sales by the Chinese manufacturers and their local agents, significant quantities of truck cranes have also been sold by Chinese brokers, most of whom have no local representation or support. Also, as is the case in many emerging markets, Chinese contractors have become very active. In Algeria for example, China Petroleum Jilin Chemical Engineering & Construction Co. (JCC) imported eight XCMG crawler cranes for use on an LNG project in Adrar.
The market for smaller-sized knuckle boom loader cranes has also opened up with VIC Equipments and Alwin Algerie Sarl especially active as representatives of Fassi and Hyva respectively. Telehandlers too have become very popular as an alternative to small rough terrain cranes with Manitou and Diece now well-established. But in these sectors also, the emerging competition again comes from the numerous Chinese manufactures.
Crane hire is well-established in Algeria and one of the most modern and well-maintained crane hire fleets is that of the RedMed Logistics. Part of the large RedMed Group headquartered in Algiers this company operates a fleet of some 20 Liebherr all terrains and serves the oil and gas companies all of which insist on only the best-maintained, topquality and safe machinery operated by properly-trained and skilled service providers. Another significant local operator is the Baouchi brothers’ Trans Baouchi Company which operates a large haulage fleet primarily engaged in the transportation of drill rigs and other oil field equipment from the sea ports to the oil fields. Central to Baouchi’s operations are some 76 road tractors and a fleet of seven mobile cranes, mainly Liebherr all terrains up to 70t capacity.
Of course the largest regional crane hire operations are those of the large European companies such as Sarens. Mediaco has been in Algeria since 2000 and now has branches in Hassi Messaoud, Arzew and Skikda. Sarens Algerie was established in Kouba-Alger in 2003 and today operates a fleet of approximately telescopic and lattice boom mobile cranes from 25-400t capacity that includes Liebherr, Tadano, Terex, Hitachi-Sumitomo, Kobelco and Zoomlion cranes. Sarens Algerie has established also a logistics and maintenance base in Oran as well as a regional branch in the Skikda Industrial Zone. Since the early 1970s, Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas company, Sonatrach, has been operating the LNG plant and refinery at the Mediterranean port city of Skikda, located 500km (300 miles) east of Algiers.
Recently Sarens Algerie used a 1,250t (1,380USt) Terex-Demag CC 6800 to erect a 130m (425ft) flare stack at the Skikda oil refinery. Earlier the CC 6800 worked in conjunction with a 750t Liebherr LR 1750, 500t Terex-Demag CC 2500 and 250t Hitachi-Sumitomo SCX 2500 at an ammonia and urea plant located in the industrial zone at Mers El Hadjadj, Arzew where column lifts ranged up to a 533t unit of 70m length (585USt/230ft). The coastal city of Arzew, located 400km (250 miles) west of Algiers, is home to the 4th largest gas producing field in the world with 4.5 trillion cubic metres of gas reserves. It already supplies 25% of the EUs natural gas imports. Sonatrach runs the largest gas fields, the Hassi R’Med, which holds half the countries gas reserves.
After several delays and disqualifications of bidders, the contract for the transportation, lifting and erection of reactor columns at the Arzew LNG train or GLN-3Z project was awarded in 2011 by Saipem to Fagioli SpA. Last year Fagioli deployed its Towerlift and Strand jacking system together with 64 axle line SPMTs, its 300t Liebherr LR 1300 crawler crane and one of its two 750t crawler cranes to the project where they installed 57 pieces up to 1,100t weight. The most challenging lift involved the transport from the port to the site of a 53m long 970t column which was erected using the Towerlift and stand jacks supported by the Liebherr LR 1750.
Global Cranes & Machinery, the Houston-based international distributor of a Zoomlion rough terrain crane range stretching from 35-100t. To date Global’s greatest successes have been in North Africa and the Gulf. Global’s first significant bulk shipment was 10 of its 55t (60USt) RT 55s to Sarens Algerie back in January 2011 and has been followed by further shipments of 10 each of the RT 55 and 35t (40USt) RT 35 to the same customer.
Building on this breakthrough Global succeeded in selling 5 RT 35s to Sonatrach, as well as sales of an RT 55 and two RT 75 75t (80USt) cranes in Morocco. Uri Toudjarov, director of international sales, says, "Sarens was looking for costeffective machines and the initial order was for ten RT 55s. After one year in service, satisfied that the cranes had performed well, Sarens ordered twenty more cranes during Intermat in Paris, April 2012. The main reason for the additional order was that the cranes had strong load charts and the operators were pleased with the cranes performance. Our prices were also very attractive and we could deliver on short notice.
"The cranes are performing well under harsh conditions. Firstly we tested the machines for over twelve months on Sinopec (China Petroleum Corporation) projects under extreme conditions such as duty cycle operations for extended periods of time and driving in desert conditions for 200km (125 miles) at a time. The cranes performed extremely well. In emerging markets we partner with local companies who are capable of providing first response on service and we use our US-trained technicians to provide PDI (Predelivery inspections) and service training.
"We sell direct to our major national accounts such as Sarens and via distributors such as Crane Link Zoomlion Pty Ltd based in Midrand, Western Cape, South Africa; NCIS in North Africa; Brasil Amazon and Serglobal in Brazil; Equiport in Argentina, Global Chile in Chile.
"US Global service technicians under the direction of our corporate service manager, Mike Liu, perform PDIs on site for the first crane sale in a country and do follow-up service as needed. All of our cranes are covered by a 12-month/2,000 hour comprehensive warranty and every Zoomlion Rough Terrain Crane sold by Global also ships with consumable parts needed for oneyear of operation. These parts are free-of-charge. Warranty parts are shipped from our US locations."
Egypt
Government departments have long represented a significant portion of the Egyptian market and the most recent example of this is in the shape of three Grove GBT 35 recently purchased by the Egyptian Air Force. Equipped with 38.7m (127ft) five-section full power booms and jibs up to 16.8m (55ft), the 35t capacity cranes were mounted on Volvo FM 300 8×4 trucks at the Grove Crane facility in Langenfeld, Germany. The cranes will be used for general lifting operations and aircraft maintenance.
Since 2009, Sany has operated a local sales and service subsidiary based in Cairo. Sany Egypt is responsible for the Sudanese and Ethiopian as well as Egyptian markets and boasts nine permanent service engineers responsible for 12 categories of Sany machinery ranging from its mobile and crawler cranes through various earthmoving, concrete, road-making and foundation machinery. Suntec Egypt, part of the El Didi Group, is the crawler crane distributor for Sany and has been especially successful with 50t SCC 500Es while another member of the El Didi Group, Soilmec Misr, is the local dealer for Zoomlion truck cranes and recently delivered a 25t QY 25Vf to the Egemac Company in Ain Sukhna. The crane will be employed in the installation and maintenance of electricity substations, etc. manufactured by Egemac. The El Didi Group represents Sany and Zoomlion in various countries, as well as Locatelli rough terrain cranes, RaycoWylie crane safety systems and Faresin telehandlers.
Libya
The overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in August 2011 and subsequent political uncertainties have seen crane demand dry-up almost entirely. Libya has always been a heavily rough terrain crane oriented market. Back in the early 1980s, some 400 rough terrains were supplied, with Coles Cranes taking the lion’s share. But the imposition of UN sanctions in the wake of the downing of PAN-AM 103 in 1988 precipitated many years of minimal crane and machinery imports. The lifting of those sanctions in 2003 and gradual normalisation of trading relations saw a slow increase in imports culminating is some 250 new hydraulic cranes being imported in 2008-9, with 80% of these being rough terrains. If and when the political situation stabilizes, there is a tremendous potential for strong crane demand.
Tunisia
Tunisia is a country with limited new crane demand but significant potential. Historically the country has been primarily a rough terrain crane market but all terrains have gradually grown in popularity, and in both 2008 and 2009 imports of new all terrains hit double figures.
It’s 40-years since crane hire arrived in Tunisia when the late Mohamed Toumi established Sotrim SA in the port of Sfax, in the Golfe de Gabes, and acquired a 35t capacity Nordest lattice truck crane. His first telescopic was a Grove RT 60S rough terrain purchased in 1979. During the 1990s he acquired a used 127t capacity Grove TM 1400F on a seven-axle Faun carrier as well as a 50t Tadano TG 500 and 45t Kato NK 450 truck cranes. His first all terrain was a 130t Grove GMK 5130-1 purchased in 2007 and joined in 2008-9 by an 80t Grove GMK 4108-1 and 35t Grove RT 540E rough terrain. A couple of years ago he purchased a 100t Liebherr LTM 1100-5.2. His largest crane to date a is 200t LTM 1200-5.1.
In 2006, Toumi established a Tunis subsidiary. MLM, which in May 2009 was partnered in a joint venture with Mediaco. The Tunis fleet was quickly bolstered, including the addition of Liebherr LTM 1030-2, LTM 1090-2 and LTM 1250-6.1 all terrains as well as JCB, Diece and Manitou telehandlers.
Liebherr has established itself as the market leader in the all terrain sector of the countries of the region but over the course of the past five years the Chinese manufacturers, particularly XCMG and Zoomlion have found their lowpriced small-size telescopic truck cranes an affordable option to second-hand truck cranes.