The November issue of Cranes Today is traditionally the one in which we turn our eyes towards North America. Our cover story this month reports, in some detail, on the search, rescue and recovery operations at the New York World Trade Center site. Given the number of pages that we have dedicated to the story in this issue there is little more to add here, except to say that we can all be proud of the part that our industry has played.
In this issue we also recap on what has been an eventful year for the major US manufacturers of mobile cranes. Next year may well be just as eventful. There are several long-running corporate sagas that have yet to reach their conclusion: Demag is hunting for a US partner/buyer; Grove is still owned by people who don’t really want to be in the crane business; Terex is still acquiring companies but closing plants at an even quicker rate. The list goes on.
Although the lifting market is more difficult than it has been for several years, there is no shortage of heavy construction still going on, driven particularly by the energy sector. There is demand for big lifting equipment. Looking forward, this hunger for size will be reflected at the big North American event of next year, Conexpo. Come March we can expect to see at this show Grove’s biggest ever RT (as featured in this issue) and biggest ever AT, Demag’s 1,000t crawler, and Link-Belt’s biggest RT. Sales may be down but the exhibitors in Las Vegas will resolutely refuse to betray any sign of declining economic confidence.
Given that crane buyers are less likely to show such exuberance and given that the volume markets are disappearing, it makes sense for the manufacturers to devote some attention at this time to higher margin niches. Let’s just hope that the crowds turn up at Conexpo to appreciate the results. Either way, while I sincerely hope that next year will be less dramatic than this, I have a feeling there will still be no shortage of material for these pages.
