AMERICAN TRAIL

It was only two or three years ago that Asia accounted for the bulk of new crawler crane production, with a market more than five times bigger than that of North America in 1997. It is likely that crawler consumption in North America this year will outstrip that of Japan, and conceivably the entire continent of Asia. In 1992 the US market was about 60 units; this year it is on course to top 400, with 100 units sold in the first quarter.

This simple fact explains why it is that crawler manufacturers are focusing their attention on North America, and those that are native to the territory are prospering.

Few companies in the industry have enjoyed the past few years as much as Manitowoc. The Manitowoc Company, parent to Manitowoc Cranes and boom truck manufacturer Manitex, has seen group crane sales triple in five years and rise from $115m in 1996 to $330m in 1998, with profits rising by a similar ratio to $48m. Though these figures include Manitex products, the major part is accounted for by Manitowoc Cranes’ crawlers. This success is undoubtedly at least partly due to the popularity of the machines on offer, but it remains an accurate reflection of US demand.

Octotrac enters the lexicon

This year’s new crawler from Manitowoc is the 21000, launched at the Conexpo show in March. As a base lift crane its capacity is 831 US ton (754t); with Max-er attachment it lifts 1,000 US ton (907t); with Max-er and luffing jib it can lift 500 US ton.

The base crane can self-erect up to 400ft (122m) of boom or 180ft (55m) of boom with 300ft (91m) of luffing jib. Equipped with Max-er, 380ft (116m) of boom can be attached or 300ft of boom plus 300ft of luffing jib. Clearly a crane that weighs about 900t is not going to be as comprehensively self erecting as certain other Manitowoc models such as the 2250 or the 888. But for Conexpo it was delivered on 29 trucks and took just two days to set up. Manitowoc puts set-up time at 20 hours for a crew of five. The largest module weighs about 43t and is 3.5m wide.

The most visible feature of the 21000 that makes it stand out is that it sits on eight crawler tracks instead of the more usual two. The so-called Octotrac’s four dual-crawler modules mean that ground bearing pressure is less than on the 68t capacity model 111. In narrow configuration it has a footprint of 9m by 14m.

First unit off the production line was bought by All Erection & Crane Rental Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio. Anthony Crane Rental also placed an order at a Conexpo photo opportunity.

Manitowoc’s next big crane will be between the 21000 (900t) and 2250 Max-er (400t). It will be designed with an eye on its containerisation ability. From conception to shipping the first unit will take less than 18 months, the company expects.

Hello new hylabs

While Link-Belt has nothing to match the size of the 21000, two new hydraulic lattice boom (HYLAB, in Link-Belt terminology) cranes this year are heavily geared to winning US market share. A new top of the range crawler for Link-Belt is the LS-278H, rated at 250 US ton (227t). It has a 330ft (100m) boom or 300ft (91m) plus 100ft (30m) boom and jib combination. In terms of market positioning, this model comes in between Manitowoc’s 888 and 2250 models.

But Link-Belt describes the LS-138H II as its “star” this year. This 80 US ton (73t) model succeeds the 70 US ton LS-138H, itself a successful product for Link-Belt. As well as extra lift capacity (up 30% in parts of the chart), improvements include easier transportability, a new counterweight removal system and a transportation weight of about 40t.

The LS-138H II offers boom lengths of 40ft to 200ft (12m to 61m). On full boom, it lifts 2,800lb at 140ft (1.3t at 43m), or 21,500lb at 50ft (9.8t at 15m).

A jib is also available from 30ft to 60ft (9m to 18m) that can be offset to 5O, 15O and 25O. Maximum tip height is achieved with 180ft (55m) of main boom and a 60ft (18m) jib.

Both new models feature a remote control hydraulic counterweight removal system to ease assembly and disassembly.

Link-Belt also announced at Conexpo that a duty-cycle version of the LS-138H II would become available around the middle of the year. This will be badged as the LS-208H II.

A deal is struck

The USA’s third major player in this sector, American Crane, is firmly back in the game again after its acquisition last year by Terex. The AC 1500 has been freshened up and is now the HC 210, reflecting its 210 US ton (190t) capacity. It features a 280ft (85m) main boom, and 250ft plus 100ft (76m+30m) boom and jib combination. American claims that the HC 210 is “the fastest set-up luffing crane in its class”. As previously discussed in Cranes Today, the HC 210 has a shorter tailswing than the old AC 1500.

The American range has been immediately bolstered by a marketing agreement with Japan’s IHI Construction Machinery, a subsidiary of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries. Under the agreement, IHI will supply Terex with crawler cranes smaller than American’s smallest 125 US ton (113t) model. An 80 US ton (73t) IHI-built machine was shown at Conexpo, badged as an HC 80 and generated multiple orders, Terex says. It is available equipped with either IHI’s own lattice boom and luffing jib or with American’s 47 inch (1.19m) boom and fixed jib.

Terex will market the IHI cranes across the whole of the Americas, plus the Middle East and Africa.

Target market

Other Japanese manufacturers are also stepping up their efforts in the USA, and in Europe too, given the sharp decline in their Asian home markets.

Kobelco has had a presence in the USA for some years and its latest offering is the new CK 1000 (100 US tonner). A model was shown at Conexpo and five were sold off the stand. It competes with the Manitowoc 222 (formerly West-Manitowoc) and the Link-Belt LS-218.

Maximum boom is 200ft (61m) and maximum boom and jib combination is 190ft plus 60ft (58m+18m).

Hitachi’s renewed international efforts see it launch into the USA and the revival of its UK distributorship. Hitachi did not actually have a crane at Conexpo alongside its excavators, just a video presentation of the CX 1800, rated at 180t. Basic boom is 59ft (18m), maximum boom length is 285ft (87m), maximum boom and jib combination is 236ft plus 121ft (72m+37m). Hitachi’s CX series also includes the models CX 700, 900, 1100, and 2000, ranging from 70t to 200t capacities.

With the UK proving to be Europe’s second biggest market now, and several contractors and fleet owners beginning to replace mechanical crawlers with hydraulically powered machines, UK distributor HM Plant has started to market cranes again after some years out of the market. Kobelco, too, has new channels in the UK and Ireland, having signed a distribution agreement with Grove Europe.

European manufacturers, however, appear more excited about North American prospects than their home market – justifiable, given that the North American market is five times bigger, and rising.

Europeans push

Liebherr-Werk Nenzing of Austria established Liebherr Crawler Crane Company in Houston, Texas last year and at Conexpo showed a 250t-capacity LR 1250. This was launched at Bauma 98 as the 200t-capacity HS 893 but, as well as being uprated, its name was changed to match the nomenclature of Liebherr’s German-built crawlers.

A sweet early success for sales and service manager Kurt Rudigier was the supply of an LR 1250 (which goes head to head with the 888) to Miron Construction for a project in Green Bay, Wisconsin – right in the heart of Manitowoc country.

Mannesmann Dematic too is promoting its crawlers in North America for the first time in years. In the past 12 months it has sold seven crawler cranes to US customers. At Conexpo it was announced that Marino Crane had commissioned a 1,000t-capacity Demag crawler crane – the CC 5600. Design work has now begun and Marino expects to pay between $6m and $7m.

“We’re growing our Demag crawler fleet” says Carl Marino. Marino’s fleet of 60 cranes already includes a CC 1800 (300t) and CC 2800 (600t). With offices in Trinidad and the USA, and having worked in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico, Marino’s new crane will be for worldwide hire.

The CC 2800 was launched last year as a successor to the 500t-capacity CC 2600. The newest member of the 2000 series is launched in October: the 450t-capacity CC 2500, filling the gap created between the 300t and the new 600t models. Developed from the CC 2800, the new model incorporates many of the features and uses the same basic system as the 600 tonner.

Reduced component weight for transport is a major concern and US customers largely dictate the specifications of new crawler crane designs in that this market drives the reduced component weight trend, says Mannesmann Dematic’s marketing director Roland Schug. Maximum component weight dictated by regulations in some states of the USA is 89,000lb (40.4t) whereas in Germany for example 80t is no problem.

Each of the CC 2500’s crawler modules will weigh 32t, well within this limit. Even the superstructure falls within the limit at 33t with the 5.6t winches and the boom backstops removed. The complete superstructure with three drums, A-frame, reeving drum and boom backstops will still weigh only 41t. This is a dramatic improvement on older designs where this figure was more like 55t.

Other claimed advantages of the new Demag crawlers are load charts that show pick and carry capability in SSL (superlift) configuration and a modular boom system where interchangeable components allow any configuration to be created out of the complete equipment. That is to say: various combinations of parts from the top luffing jib model can be used to build any of the other configurations. One less truck is needed for transport because one of the top lattice sections will now fit inside one of the larger lower sections. Transport height of the CC 2500 will also be reduced because of the lower height (2100mm) of the boom sections.

New faces for North

America Two well-established names in the crane industry have also launched themselves upon the North American crawler crane market.

First is Favelle Favco, a company Australian in origin, now Malaysian-owned and known primarily as a tower crane manufacturer. As reported in previous issues of this magazine, Favelle Favco Cranes (USA) Inc launched a series of telescopic and lattice boom crawlers at Conexpo based on Caterpillar power trains (Enter the Cat May 99, p31). It is a product which has generated much interest but it remains to be seen whether this interest can be converted into sales.

The second is R-B International, the British manufacturer still turning out new machines as well as remanufacturing old ones in spite of being handicapped by the strength of the pound sterling and the weakness of the Japanese yen. R-B had hoped to enter North America via a deal with Terex/American Crane but IHI was preferred. However it has set up its own dealer network and next month it is due to deliver an 80t CH 80 to a customer in Canada, its first shipment to North America.

Targeting North America is clearly a current trend, and RB is following another strong trend: it is building a new model with a luffing fly jib, its first to be so equipped. The luffing jib is for the 135t-capacity CH 135, the first unit of which is being delivered to a customer in the Netherlands.

Few companies can see any downward trend on the horizon. The federal highway act, TEA-21, has appropriated massive funds for construction work which has yet to feed through to contractors or equipment manufacturers. Although the market is cyclical, therefore, the USA may still be in an early part of the cycle. All the sector needs now is the revival of the market in Japan and Southeast Asia.