We have been in the crane rental business for years but everyone thinks of us just as steel erectors. To address that identity issue we have now set up Buckner Heavy Lift Cranes.
We have got about 55 cranes. We are primarily in the lattice boom crawler business, and primarily 100 ton and above. We have some telescopics for small erection work and putting our lattice cranes together, but we are not in the taxi crane business.
We have a couple of Terex American HC 80s with luffing jibs. They are the 80 ton crawlers built by IHI in Japan and we are extremely pleased with these cranes. They are very functional and productive and no trouble. Last year we got two HC 110s, rated at 110 ton, and last month took delivery of luffing jibs for these.
We have some 140 ton lattice boom truck cranes, but that is not really our focus. So moving up the scale we have five units of the HL 150-C which is a lattice boom crawler that Grove made between 1985 and 1991. All of these have luffing jibs – we use luffing jibs on 90% of our jobs. These Groves are just fantastic cranes, extremely operator friendly, smooth and fast. And in the real working ranges of the chart, they compete with a 200 ton crane.
We have two Manitowoc 777s with luffers which we have been happy with. They fill a niche between the HL 150-C and the Manitowoc 888. We have eight 888s with a good assortment of luffers, and three 999s, one of which has the new #149 heavy luffer.
We don’t get set on any one manufacturer. We focus in on certain winners that each manufacturer might have.
We have a Liebherr LR 1250 and six LR 1400-1s, which are rated at 440 US tons but with a derrick attachment compete in the 750 ton class. We have got all the attachments for them, including the floating ballast wagon. These cranes have been the real winners for us. The fact that we can put them together in so many configurations means that we can always find work for them. They are so versatile.
Last month we took delivery of a Demag CC 2800, with full complement of boom, luffer and Superlift. It lifts 800t with Superlift. I am close to ordering another one of these for delivery this spring.
Looking ahead I can certainly see us buying more of the HC 110s, and when the Groves need replacing, Liebherr’s LR 1160 would make a lot of sense. Over time we may decrease the number of 888s and increase the number of 999s or get some LR 1280s. The telescopic market has softened but with our heavy lift business we remain cautiously optimistic.
