On the cover, and as our job of the month, we have some of the first pictures of Liebherr’s giant new crawler, the LR 13000, taken by our regular photographic contributor, Ken Derry. Only recently seen performing test and demo lifts, the crane has gone straight to Whiting, Indiana, where Mammoet is putting it to work on a refinery expansion project for BP.

Also in the US, we have the first job for Bigge’s AFRD, working on a nuclear power job site in Georgia. The new custom made lifting site has been designed to handle two reactor installations, from a single fixed position, increasing flexibility and eliminating the need to make changes to the crane position or ground works once lifting commences.

In Argentina, we report on the first lift for ALE’s Mega Jack. The innovative system uses lightweight modular componets to lift and shift huge loads: while it’s not working at its maximum capacity on this first job, it’s been designed to handle modules of 40,000t and over. Here, it has made a high altitude construction project possible.

In our news section, we open with the first installation of one of Liebherr’s crane around leg (CAL) offshore cranes. These new cranes have been designed to offer maximum lifting capacity, while minimising the space they take up on jack-up vessles, increasing the size and number of components that can be installed in one trip.

But it’s not all giants. Our second lead story in news this month is about a new compact rough terrain crane from Badger. Badger’s parent company, Manitex, has focussed over recent years on developing big boom trucks for refinery maintenance. With this new rough terrain, they’re finding a way to fit into some of the smaller niches (both literally, and in business terms) in the industrial lifting sector.

On the back page, we feature a crane user who’s taken the same approach. With his company Load 28, Marcus Rigney spotted a gap for small cranes in Adelaide, Australia, working in cramped job sites. Over a few short years, he’s built his business admirably.

The world market for lifting equipment remains difficult, and is likely to remain so throughout 2013. However, I think the stories we carry this month show that crane builders and owners will continue to innnovate.

Will North Editor
wnorth@worldmarketintelligence.com