During 2003, Liebherr delivered more than 380 tower cranes (mostly top-slewing up to 60 metre tonnes) in Spain, and supplied almost 300 units in the first half of 2004.

Helmut Limberg, general manager of Liebherr-Werk Biberach in Germany, claimed that the German market for tower cranes was slowly beginning to move again, although it remained ‘at an unsatisfactorily low level’. However, in 2003, the company says it boosted domestic [German] sales by 47.1% and, with 175 cranes, achieving a market share of 54.5%.

Limburg added: ‘Last year, the market grew by 18.5% and in the first half of 2004 by a further 18.2%. In the first half of 2004, we achieved domestic sales of 109 tower cranes compared with 94 units in the same period of the previous year.’

This means that, despite the year-long downhill trend, Germany was still, after Spain, the most important single market in volume terms for Liebherr tower cranes. This market is served almost exclusively by Liebherr-Industrias Metalicas, the company’s Spanish subsidiary.

Meanwhile, the Alpine regions of Switzerland also demanded a broad range of crane systems, said Limberg: ‘We find that increasing use is being made here of our new fast-erecting crane, the 32 TTR, mounted on a crawler track unit. These cranes are used on bridge-building sites and road renewal schemes.’

With 49 tower cranes supplied in Switzerland during 2003, Liebherr estimates that it achieved a market share there of 43%.

Among the bottom-slewing cranes, Liebherr’s 31 to 40-metre tonne range is its top-selling size category in Austria. Most sales of top-slewing cranes are in the 100 to 140 metre tonne range. With 50 tower cranes supplied to the Austrian market in 2003, Liebherr estimates its overall market share to be 74.6%.

The Belgian market favours top-slewing cranes up to 100 metre-tonnes. Limburg has noticed a development in this product segment, which he says is also evident in other markets: ‘There is a steady trend towards systems with higher lifting capacities. Underlying this tendency are new construction methods with preformed sections, and also larger construction projects. The most common size category in Europe five or six years ago was still 140 metre tonnes, but our best-selling top-slewing crane is now the 280 EC-H Litronic, which is twice as big. This is a clear sign that modern building sites need greater jib lengths and higher lifting capacities.’

In this size category, Liebherr’s market share in Belgium last year amounted to almost 41%. With a total of 40 new cranes supplied, its share in this market was 50%.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, is more interested in mobile construction cranes, a trend confirmed by the fact that more than half of Liebherr’s mobile construction cranes are delivered to the Dutch market.

Despite a clear North-South divide in the Italian market Liebherr says its sales figures in Northern Italy, particularly in the Southern Tyrol, have held up well. Last year, it sold 93 new cranes in Italy, a trend that has continued into the current financial year.

For Liebherr, a special feature of the French market is the dominance of one size category. The company believes that the country has strong preference for top-slewing cranes over 200 metre tonnes. It delivered 33 new cranes in this size category in 2003 with its Litronic cranes make up the bulk of sales.

The UK is primarily a market for top-slewing cranes, with the adjustable luffing jib rated highly. Liebherr’s market in UK grew by 17.1% in 2003, and sales of 10 cranes gave it a market share of 20.8%.

The increasing importance of the markets in Eastern Europe has encouraged Liebherr to set up sales and service companies in the Czech Republic and Hungary to support its existing company in Russia. According to Limberg: ‘Whereas in these markets both new and used cranes are in demand, business in Poland, Bulgaria and Romania is currently focused almost exclusively on used cranes.’

In 2003, Liebherr sold 22 new cranes in Russia.

However, the company’s Chinese experience has been less positive. Limburg explains: ‘Because there is still an almost unlimited supply of cheap labour in China, tower cranes do not yet play the part that they may do in the future, despite the current boom in the Chinese construction industry. Large-scale projects, that is to say multi-storey buildings in heavily built-up areas and major bridge pylons, are an exception to this. The number of tower cranes required in China was estimated at approximately 11,000 in 2003, but these are almost exclusively the simplest form of mass-produced cranes, which are not part of the Liebherr range.’

In the medium term, Liebherr is considering setting up crane manufacturing operations in China itself. ‘A specific option here is our new factory in the North Eastern Chinese port of Dalian, which is primarily designed for earthmoving machinery but has sufficient potential for expansion to include the setting up of a crane manufacturing line,’ Limburg said.