A failed bid to acquire the rights to distribute Terex Comedil tower cranes in the UK and Ireland from Select Plant has led mobile crane rental company Ainscough Group to abandon its aspirations to enter the tower crane market.
Ainscough set up a putative tower crane division last year by recruiting independent Comedil agent Mike Studd, a Briton who sold Comedil towers in the USA. The plan was for Studd to secure the Comedil dealership for Ainscough. Instead Studd has now joined Select Plant, owned by contractor O’Rourke Group, as head of its tower crane division.
Studd said that the original plan was for Ainscough and Select to form a joint venture tower crane company but a satisfactory deal could not be reached with Terex. Ainscough and Select have subsequently announced a partnering arrangement, however, under which Ainscough becomes mobile crane supplier of choice for Select and Ainscough refers inquiries for tower cranes to Select.
Ainscough said that it was now dropping its plans for a tower crane division. “Having been in negotiation with Terex Comedil of Italy since last October, and in the absence of reaching an agreement, it [Ainscough] has decided not to pursue this development at this time,” an Ainscough company statement read.
According to Terex international sales and marketing vice president Steve Filipov, Terex Comedil was quite happy for and an Ainscough/Select joint venture to take on the distribution contract on the same exclusive terms that Select had.
Select’s distributorship is one of only three exclusive agreements that Terex has with distributors. The other two are with Delta Plant (owned by Ainscough’s great rival Baldwins), which is distributor for Terex Peiner tower cranes in the UK, and Kranen Michielsens, which sells aerial platforms in Belgium. Filipov confirmed that Terex’s policy is not to have exclusive agreements, but these three were contracts taken on with acquired companies. Terex prefers its dealers to be in competition.
The appeal of tower cranes for the acquisitive Ainscough is clear, given the relative health of the UK market and the success enjoyed by Baldwins’ tower crane division, Delta. Delta divisional director Graham Baukham said that utilisation for his 80 cranes has not dropped below 80% “for as long as I can remember”, and he has been with Delta since long before Baldwins acquired the business from Kværner/Agent Plant in 1996.
Since the takeover, Delta has doubled in size and has been buying about 20 cranes a year, predominantly from Peiner because Delta is Peiner’s agent in the UK.
Currently on order are five Peiner 166 luffers plus SK 315 saddle jib cranes, with 70m jibs. Of market conditions, Baukham says: “We are very positive. I have not got a crystal ball but I can’t see any reduction in the year ahead.” Potain agrees that the UK market is “very buoyant”, says Stephen Barnett, who can now offer BKT towers since Potain’s acquisition of the German manufacturer last year. “We are very optimistic about the BKT range in the UK, especially the smaller luffing cranes which we are relaunching.” He also envisages growth in the HD self-erecting market.
