Looking foward...

22 July 2022

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With summer having well and truly arrived here in the UK, it is with a feeling of optimism that I write this month's Comment. It's not just the sunshine that has returned; international travel is back on the agenda, too. With forthcoming Terex and Liebherr trips, plus Bauma 2022 tickets now booked, I'm looking forward to getting away from a desk and meeting people face-to-face again.

Speaking of Bauma, we will be covering the show extensively with our show guide in the October issue. If you are exhibiting at the show, please get in touch as soon as possible and let us know what you have in store so that we can, in turn, help spread the word.

We are also looking to have our November golden anniversary issue out in time for Bauma in order to fully celebrate our 50-year heritage, so there's much to look forward to.

Looking to this month's issue, though, we have two articles from in-house feature writer Julian Champkin (covering onshore wind and rough terrain cranes) and an examination of the Asia Pacific market for tower cranes and mobile cranes from contributor Stuart Anderson, president at market analyst Chortsey Barr Associates.

Other than lifting, there may not appear to be a single, common theme unifying these three features. On reflection, however, all three articles deal with a changing landscape in which the lifting equipment being used evolves in response to a whole host of external factors.

For example, in the onshore wind (p20) Champkin highlights the rapid rate at which the number of wind farms, plus the size of their components, has risen. As a result, there isn't any one standardised solution (or crane type) that is used to erect wind turbines, rather a host of different approaches and cranes.

Similarly, in the rough terrain crane sector, although it seems the future will be electric or hydrogen-driven, we have not fully arrived there yet. Champkin looks at some of the technologies we are currently using in the interim.

Finally, Stuart Anderson's cause and effect analysis of the Indian sub-continent, China and SE Asia (excluding Japan and Australasia) shows a region in flux.

In his article Anderson identifies specific drivers for particular crane types in certain countries and, crucially, demonstrates how crane use fits in with the wider social, economic, political and even geographical landscape.

I hope you enjoy the issue and I look hope to see you out and about at a trade show or press event this summer.

Christian Shelton, Editor
Christian.Shelton@progressivemediainternational.com

Cranes Today will be celebrating 50 years in November. To celebrate we will publish the issue in time for Bauma