“Today we’ve put together a plan to add several 14000s to our fleet,” said Ron Schad, Essex president & CEO. “We based that decision on our long history with Manitowoc. We are pleased to continue that legacy.”

“With the success we have had with the 4100W, it was only natural for us to look to Manitowoc, when we were expanding our fleet with new 220-ton units,” Schad said. “The 220-ton class is critical to our bare rental fleet.”

But it has also announced plans to buy more Liebherrs. In 2003, Essex broke with its long-standing Manitowoc-only policy, and Schad’s own career history at Manitowoc, to buy an undisclosed number of Liebherr HS 855 SX duty-cycle crawlers. That order was followed in 2005 with a number of Liebherr LR 1100s and a variant of the LR 1200 lift cranes.

Essex has announced plans to buy more LR 1200 variants and Liebherr Nenzing’s new 330 US ton capacity LR 1300 crawler.

The modified LR 1200s, dubbed the 1200SX, are modified for long-boom and luffing-jib work. Essex said it has bought more because of market demand for crawlers in the 275 US ton class.

Customer Danny Saint, general superintendent and equipment manager of Vezers Precision Industrial Construction International, praised the LR1200SX following a project at the Monarch Cement Company. “This is a mammoth project. We needed to rely on one crane for all major lifts to keep the job on schedule and on budget. The LR1200SX is keeping our project profitable,” he said.

The company said it plans to offer the same package of the LR 1200SX in a higher weight class. “The crane also ships decked to the carbody, which is a significant transportation feature for the bare-rental market,” it said.