GAINING STRENGTH

The 1990s have proved the best of times and the worst of times for the German crane industry. The boom that followed reunification of East and West was followed by a sharp downturn in fortunes. As the decade comes to an end there are signs that the market as a whole is strengthening once again.

However, while mobile crane manufacturers generally report more sales in 1998 than the previous year, and expect further increases this year, the tower crane crane market remains relatively flat. It does at least appear to have bottomed out and stabilised.

With the trend towards contractors renting rather than buying continuing, it is the rental sector which is doing most of the buying. Some larger contractors such as Hochtief buy new cranes but they are now firmly in the minority, says crane designer Franc Jost. The ratio of self-erecting cranes to top slewing tower cranes has shifted from about 80:20 in favour of self-erectors to about 90:10, according to Peiner’s export manager, Frank Crombe.

Those top slewing tower cranes that are in demand tend to be the larger models of 180tm to 280tm and even 300tm to 400tm capacity, instead of the smaller city crane type models of 75tm to 100tm that were popular in the early nineties. This is attributed mainly to a change in construction methods which are showing a trend towards using prefabricated concrete panels which need higher capacity cranes. A similar trend can be seen elsewhere, for example in France and Southeast Asia. Rental companies are reluctant, or finding it difficult to, invest in these larger top slewing cranes because they already have a surplus of smaller models that are still costing them money.

Peiner, now Terex Peiner GmbH, since its acquisition by the Terex Group last year, reports similar sales for 1998 as 1997 and says that competition remains strong. Potain is coming on strong in Germany as a result of its takeover of BKT and its established strength with self-erecting models. Liebherr’s customer base remains strong and loyal.

The modular concept, with interchangeable tower sections in particular, helps to ensure a certain amount of repeat business because often only a new top section might be needed rather than a complete new crane. The downside of this, though, is that sales of complete new cranes can suffer.

Downloading

Like Peiner and BKT, loader manufacturer Atlas Weyhausen has also recently changed ownership, with the Weyhausen family selling its majority shareholding to the Walter Eder Group (see News). The loader crane market began falling in 1994 from about 6,000 units per year to what PM dealer HYVA now says is about 3,500. Competing with established brands, HYVA has increased sales from about 30 units in 1997 to about 40 last year. It says it is on course for 70 units this year and hopes to pass the 100 mark in 2000.

Most popular are the Series 5 mounted on 7.5t trucks and the larger 8.5 models fitted with a grab and mounted on 12t to 18t trucks. HYVA expects a change in the market, not for the total sales volume to increase, but instead a trend towards larger cranes of between 20tm and 50tm.

Another Italian loader manufacturer, Effer, makes very similar projections to HYVA with 80 units for this year and 100 for next. Sales in 1998, at 55 units were up 10% on the previous year and larger models are also expected to be the future.

Uplifting

In contrast, the all-terrain crane market is relatively buoyant, with 603 units sold in 1998, according to vehicle registration authority figures. These figures show an overall increase of 9.4% over 1997. According to Mannesmann Dematic’s projections, this year’s total looks set to be between 550 and 600 units.

Liebherr retained the largest market share last year at 42% but this was down from 53% for the previous year. This fall in market share is attributed, in part, to capacity constraints at its Ehingen factory, which is now being extended to increase capacity by 40%.

PPM showed the biggest increase in market share last year, doubling from 5.2% to 10.6%, with sales rising from 29 to 64 units. Continuing into 1999, PPM says sales have increased by more than 75% in the first quarter.

Grove also increased its market share, from 16% to 18.6%, representing 112 registrations of new cranes. Deutsche Grove is planning a DM2.4m ($1.3m) renovation of its Wilhelmshaven plant and three new AT models are due to be ready by the Intermat exhibition next May. One will be a five-axle 100 tonner and another will be a new top of the range model, larger than the 250t-capacity GMK 6250, currently Grove’s largest model.

Tadano Faun reports very positive results for 1998. Sales of more than 80 cranes represents a 40% increase over 1997’s 57 units. For this year and next it expects the total market to remain similar to the last three years with a fluctuation of only + or – 5%. It is particularly pleased with the success of its 60t, four axle ATF 60-4, launched at Bauma last year. A new five-axle version of the taxi crane concept is due later this year for which Tadano Faun expects great things, as do the three other German mobile manufacturers for their forthcoming versions (The 100t battle May99, p37).

Containing expansion

Port crane business for Noell Stahl- und Maschinenbau has been boosted by an order worth nearly DM20m ($11m) that includes 16 straddle carriers for container handling at Bremerhaven. The terminal will be known as North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven and Noell expects to supply more cranes to it, including container gantry models, after the the first order is delivered towards the end of the year.

Mannesmann Dematic’s Gottwald division expects an increase in demand for mobile harbour cranes at river ports as well as sea ports. River ports use smaller cranes such as the Gottwald HMK 60, HMK 120 and HMK 170 to handle bulk and general cargo. Containers are less often handled than at sea ports where larger HMK 260 and HMK 280 models are typical. The German ports of Emden, Papenburg and Lübeck have placed orders for, or have already taken delivery of, Gottwald harbour cranes over the last year and worldwide orders so far this year total 15 mobile harbour cranes. In April Saigon Port, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam started using its two new 100t capacity HMK 260 Es for container handling.

The Gottwalds were part of a DM10.5m order for four German cranes. The other two are 40t capacity Sennebogen wheeled models. Sennebogen has started production of its new 613 C-Series, a wheeled telescopic crane that the company says can double as a 16t capacity telescopic handler with 360O rotation. It incorporates several improvements over the previous model. Outwardly most obvious is the F2000 cabin, a rounded design with new controls and improved accommodation. A Krüger LMB Mark 4 load moment indicator is said to simplify operation. A more powerful 88kW Deutz BF4M 1013 low noise engine now drives a load sensing hydraulic system for more precise control.

Further redesign improves telehandling performance, reduces extension time by 15 seconds and retraction time by 45 seconds, Sennebogen claims. The two-stage boom extension and retraction cylinder has been replaced with a single-stage unit for the first boom section and a rope mechanism for the second. The synchronised system has more load capacity and reach when used with forks, and for crane operation, the boom can operate horizontally, the company says.