The V500, which is designed for use on heavy duty trucks, has a maximum lifting capacity of 3t, and a maximum hook height from the six-section boom of 17.3m. There are also three, four, and five section boom versions with maximum hook heights of 15.1m, 12.7m, and 10.2m respectively.
UNIC can also supply two other truck-mounted crane series, also with a maximum lifting capacity of 3t – the V370 and the V340 – both designed to be mounted on medium-duty trucks.
Although popular in Japan, none of the cranes yet has a CE Mark, but Graeme Riley, chief executive of UNIC Cranes Europe, told Cranes Today that he expected them to be certified within six months to a year.
He added that the Japanese economy was likely to experience a downturn in the next two years, and UNIC’s parent group was therefore looking to export truck-mounted cranes to Europe in a bid to offset a downturn in domestic sales. He claimed that straight booms offered advantages over knuckle booms in some applications: “Using a rope means lowering and lifting over walls is possible, while accuracy in all operations is greatly improved. We are merely testing the market for straight booms in Europe at the moment, and look forward to gauging visitors’ reactions on the stand.”
Meanwhile, UNIC Europe announced its new French distributor – CTE Elevateurs – the French arm of the Italian access specialist, which launched a new model of the UNIC A376CL mini crane at Intermat. The machine, which has a lifting capacity of 2.9t 2.4m, has a maximum working radius of 14.3m and a maximum length of 14.45m from the six-section boom. It incorporates remote control, auto throttle activation, and computerised voice warning in seven languages.
UNIC sold 15 mini cranes at the Intermat show, including two to France, two to Sweden, three to Norway, four to Portugal, one to Russia, two to Germany, and one to the UK.
