Yousef Mousa Cranes

I started Yousef Mousa Cranes Co in 1983. I came to the UK at that time and I purchased two cranes; 30t Bantam cranes. One was from Cox plant hire and the second crane from GD White. At that time I just had crane operators and one assistant. We were and still are based in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

I kept coming to the UK to buy all my cranes to start the crane hire business and I kept selling cranes. I got Hydrocon cranes, Coles cranes and then Grove cranes. The cranes were loaded on trailers to Southampton, and then by sea to Aqaba, on the Red Sea.

Today I have seven cranes . The biggest is an 80t from Tadano Faun. I have four from Grove from 30–50t, and two 30t Katos.

Jordan is a small country, but we work all over. We concentrate on the city of Amman but for long periods we travel areas into remote areas. In Jordan we have very good roads but there are other people who own cranes in the other areas, so normally I don’t challenge them unless for jobs where there is a long period of work.

In Amman we work mainly in the industrial area at power stations, a new plant for phosphates, and on the water projects. We have a very big project for a 300km pipeline that will bring water to Amman Al Mudawwarah on the Saudi border, being built by the Turkish company Gama.

At Aqaba there is good work, but local firms normally can offer better prices as they are based there. It is easier for the maintenance, for the operators and for everything.

My company also does crane certification. Certification and the testing of lifting equipment is becoming a must, especially for foreign companies that operate in Jordan. I followthe British Standards in my testing so I am doing the same test that is supposed to be done in UK and Europe. In Jordan the government has nothing to do with the testing and the certifications at all. We also train operators and riggers, as they need to be certified.

I am a member of the British LEEA and the American SC&RA. I recently attended the LiftEx 2011 exhibition organized by the LEEA in Leeds. I try to follow what’s new in lifting and training. We have clients from Europe, China, Korea and India that operate here so I work for them, either by hiring cranes or testing their equipment.

In the port of Aqaba, I provide certification mainly for three companies: Dutch contractors BAM International, who are building anew container terminal together with Jordanian contractor MAG Engineering; another big contractor who is building a new Phosphate Rock terminal, Afcons Infrastructure; and Aqaba Levers-who have a modern fleet of cranes that range from 25 to 200 tons.

I gained my experience on cranes while working in the deserts in the Gulf Area in the 70s. I worked for CCC, which is one of the biggest contractors in the world. I was sent by them in 1979 to the USA for three months and I had intensive training on cranes with the world leaders in crane manufacturing. I was also trained by Liebherr in Germany on tower cranes. I was appointed as crane test engineer in charge, covering all cranes in the Gulf, from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to Yemen, Oman and the Emirates.

Yousef Mousa, General Manager