Tony Canci, managing director of Freo Cranes, said his company always planned to choose one manufacturer for its latest growth strategy.
“We were looking for a single supplier for the next stage in our expansion plan,” he said. “It allows us to standardize on training for operators and technicians and also allows us to share ancillary parts for optimum storage and cost efficiency. After the tender process we chose Manitowoc because it’s a brand we know and trust and we get excellent service from our local dealer WATM, which is a good, solid family-run company. That was important.”
There are three models making up the 15 crane order: the 80t capacity GMK4080-1; the 130t capacity GMK5130-1; and the 220t capacity GMK5220. The first crane delivered in the order was a GMK5220 which arrived in Australia mid-March.
Canci picked out the GMK5220 and GMK4080-1 as cranes that will particularly help his company.
“The GMK5220 has a 68m boom which is excellent for a 5-axle machine,” he said. “It is perfect for work in refineries, petrochemical plants and reaching over buildings in built-up sites. The additional boom length means we don’t need to move it so often; we don’t need to fit a fly jib and overall it just saves time.”
As for the GMK4080, Canci said it would help his company meet the changing needs of Freo’s customer base, which for the most part consists of blue chip organizations. The challenge for Freo Machinery is to balance stricter safety constraints on mine sites, petrochemical plants and refineries – where cranes are often limited to lifting 75% – 85% of their lift chart capacity – with providing compact equipment with easy access and unequalled performance.
“We will use the GMK4080 to complement our 50t truck crane offering, but eventually we see it becoming the preferred choice over the once-dominant 50-55t truck mounted crane,” he said. “In this respect the GMK4080 is well placed to become the new crane of choice with its 51 m boom and ability to carry 9.3 t of counterweight in a road legal configuration. Our customers are always demanding the best in terms of performance and ability and the GMK4080 represents a competitive advantage over traditional lifting solutions.”
The new cranes will be divided between Freo’s six depots with some also going to subsidiary company Global Cranes. The order takes Freo’s fleet to 150 cranes comprising a mix of rough-terrain cranes, all-terrain cranes and crawler cranes, a large percentage of which are Manitowoc products. Freo’s depots are spread across Australia and it now offers national coverage, although it is looking to develop its coverage as part of its expansion plan. The company’s headquarters are in Kwinana, 40 km south of Perth, in Western Australia.
Canci says his company will be able to focus on other aspects of the business now this major purchase has been confirmed.
“Making such a large order at once means our buying responsibility is lessened and we can focus on other areas of our business and focus more on our customers,” he said. “Also, ordering Manitowoc products allows us to align with our major customers like [mining giants] BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto which also run large fleets of Manitowoc equipment. It means our operators and technicians are familiar with our customers’ cranes and lift studies from our clients can also be applied to our own cranes.”
