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Italian crane manufacturers are generally in a reasonably confident mood today. They report positive results overall but in the domestic market at least, sales success varies distinctly according to crane type. Tower and mobile crane manufacturers say they are particularly busy in the domestic market. Loader manufacturers are doing well but mainly in export – Italy is now a mature market for that type of crane so replacement is a large part of the domestic market.

Forthcoming infrastructure projects – such as the construction of the ‘alta velocità’ (high speed) railway and the extension of road links, including the one between Bologna and Florence – will help generate demand for crane works in Italy. Much of this work is lifting and placing prefabricated concrete elements. Tower manufacturer Alfa says airports, housing and commercial developments are particularly busy sectors. Terex Comedil has sold a CTT 561 flat top for a dam project in Sardinia and several CT 331s in Rome, one of several cities where there are large public building projects.

Tower cranes are selling well both in the domestic and export markets, according to manufacturers Alfa, Carlo Raimondi and Terex Comedil. Mariano Moritsch, sales director of Terex Comedil expects the domestic market to stay high for at least another two years and says that, in big cities, sales of cranes rated at more than 200tm are increasing. Comedil will launch a new range of flat top cranes at the SAIE exhibition in October, including eight new models with jib lengths between 40m and 60m.

Raimondi is also building larger and taller cranes, with longer jibs. This follows a trend set by Liebherr and Potain, according to Raimondi export manager Paul Winter. He says that in the last two years the Italian market has seen a shift from jib lengths of between 40m and 50m to models with 60m to 75m jibs. Raimondi is running a trial in Sicily where its cranes, with a free standing height of 95m, are being used to construct bridge pillars. Larger construction companies such as COGEi Construzioni are the main tower crane buyers in Italy at the moment, according to Winter.

Alfa’s city range accounts for 80% of its sales, due to the low price compared with mobile cranes, simple maintenance and short erection times, the company says.

Italian mobile crane manufacturers report good results in the domestic market, particularly for models below 100t capacity. Best sellers for Marchetti, for whom Italy is its most important market, are the 70t MG 70.4 all-terrain and the Trio. An electric version of the Trio, the MG 12.28 Trio Elektra, and a 70t truck crane, the MTK 1000, are Marchetti’s most recent products. The MTK 1000 is mounted on a commercial vehicle chassis so it can be driven without restriction because its GVW is less than 32t. Both models have already been sold in Italy and export sales are expected to follow.

Ormig also offers a straight boom truck crane, the 804 AC. It has a maximum lifting capacity of 80t and, like the Marchetti, comes in below the 32t GVW threshold (see box story for more on mobile cranes).

Italy is probably best known for its proliferation of loader crane manufacturers and their massive model ranges. During the first quarter of this year Amco Veba, which has been building cranes for 25 years, showed a 35% growth over the same period last year. Turnover has tripled in the last three years, according to company president Giancarlo Perego. He claims 5% of the world’s loader crane market for Amco Veba and a market share in Italy of around 10%.

Bonfiglioli concentrates mainly on the Italian market where it says that it has a remarkable 40% share, although this claim is hard to reconcile with statistics put forward by some of the other 30 manufacturers.

Effer marketing manager Giancarlo Manzano claims sales of 600 units in Italy last year – a 15% share of the total loader crane market. Effer is known for its larger models and claims a share of more than 25% of the Italian market for cranes of 20tm and above.

Export markets

Export figures from ANIMA, the federation of Italian mechanical and engineering industrial associations, remain fairly constant, comprising between 39% and 42% of the total value of lifting equipment manufactured in Italy in the last two years. A similar figure is forecast for this year but many manufacturers report an upward trend.

Terex Comedil forecasts this year’s export turnover to be back up to that of 1996 when 60% of Comedil’s business was in Asia. Amco Veba exports between 85% and 90% of its production (it built a total of 1,500 cranes last year). Effer claims to have exported 80% of its 1999 production of 2,000 units. PM expects its total production this year to be as many as 3,300 units, 65% of which will be exported.

Raimondi reports strong sales, particularly abroad, of its new MR 183 GR4 top slewing city crane, since its introduction early this year. It has sold 10 units of this city version of the ER 180 to Arcomet in Belgium for rental. Two have been sold in France, through distributor GP Mat International, to Timelec, a major rental and construction company. One is already on site at a commercial development, constructing big retail sheds. Quick erection is a major feature of the MR 183 and Raimondi says it is the only 66m jib, 1.85t tip load tower crane on the market. Another recent export success is the sale of four of the large ER 180 models to India. Indian contractor Afcons will be using them to construct a nuclear power plant.

The USA and Europe are Comedil’s best export markets, particularly the UK, through distributor Select Plant. Select has recently ordered a further 10 flat top and six luffing jib cranes for its rental fleet. In the USA a cable stay bridge is to be built using two CTT 561 flat top towers. And Comedil’s first luffer to be sold there, a CTL 250, has been ordered by Webb Cranes.

Sales are finally coming through in France for Comedil’s self-erecting and city cranes which are sold through more than 20 agents. Comedil also claims 30% of Portugal’s tower crane market last year. Portugal and Turkey are good markets for Alfa which reports total exports for the first six months of this year at 18 units.

The USA is loader crane manufacturer Amco Veba’s best market at the moment followed by European countries, particularly Spain, France and the UK. Amco Veba has had ISO 9001 since last year which has helped sales, says company president Giancarlo Perego.

Fratelli Ferrari claims that its model 530 is now the world’s best selling loader crane in the 3tm class, and also the cheapest. Three years ago when this model was introduced it was selling at a rate of 10 units a month. That figure is now up to 70 a month, the company says.

According to its president, Gianni Ferrari, F.lli Ferrari is becoming the biggest selling brand of loader cranes in Australia. The South American market is building up strongly too, to the extent that F.lli Ferrari is struggling to produce enough to satisfy demand. A market that F.lli Ferrari is beginning to explore is France, where it had sold large numbers until about 10 years ago when the market collapsed. New dealers are now being sought in France – it has one but is looking for three or four more.

Ormig reports strong sales of its electric pick and carry industrial cranes. It has sold two units in France for the first time, to rental companies Mediaco and Sorival, a 9tmE to Mediaco and a 33tmE to Sorival, a rental company based near Lille.

Not just cranes

Italian manufacturers are also busy in related areas, particularly electronics. Programmable logic control (PLC) control is a new departure for Raimondi. It recently showed a system panel with three inverters (including slewing) mounted on the counterjib assembly of an MR 75 tower crane.

Remote control manufacturer Autec has a new range of radio remote controls. Autec describes its new E16 system as safe, easy to use and reliable. A dedicated safety circuit monitors system integrity to the relay outputs and prevents unintended crane motion, even under fault conditions.

Communication link security is provided by a pair of Autec coded electronic keys, one each in the transmitter and receiver. These keys are produced, supplied and replaced only in pairs so that each transmitter can only control its matching receiver.

High capacity NiMH (nickel metal-hydride) batteries are an option and increase operating time to 25 hours, up from 15 hours with the standard battery. Two batteries are supplied and there is both visual and audible status warning. Transmission frequency can be changed from the transmitter and components are arranged for easy access. Electronic parts are guaranteed for three years.

Electronic system manufacturer 3B6 has a new angle/tilt sensor which gives an output signal when a programmed tilt angle threshold is reached. The compact ‘black box’ device contains no moving parts. It is specifically designed for applications on access platforms and mobile scissors. Within the device is the same sensor that is used in air bags for automotive passenger safety. It is an accelerometer that measures all angles of tilt and can resist shock loadings of up to 10G. Operating voltage is 10V to 30V DC and accuracy is to 0.2°, claims 3B6.

Despite being primarily an OEM supplier, 3B6 is looking for more dealers around the world. In Italy alone it already supplies its products, particularly load monitoring systems and displays, to Terex Bendini, Italmacchine, Marchetti, Rigo, Ormig, Fantuzzi and Belotti, among others.