NCK is building a prototype 80t-capacity hydraulic crawler crane and already has three orders for the new machine on its books. It is the first new crane from the company since the Nova HC65 in the early 1990s.

The crane appears in the 1999 Cranes Today Handbook as the Euro 80, but this is just a temporary project name which is to be dropped, largely because of negative connotations in the UK of the European single currency of that name. “We’ve not decided on a name yet,” said sales director Les Derbyshire. It would not be called a Nova, however, as it is to be the first of a new range.

Subject to final testing and approval, the first unit has been ordered by rental company Weldex, which already operates 50t and 65t Novas, the only hydraulic cranes that NCK has previously produced. The other two orders are from Initial GWS.

“They know the NCK is a good, heavy-duty, general purpose crane,” said Derbyshire. He said the new crane would outlift the 90t IHI at radius. “That’s why people go for the NCK, it can lift at radius. That’s where the emphasis is being put.” NCK was taken over by Staffordshire Public Works in August 1997 after its former parent company went into receivership. Since than it has sold just three port cranes and a single Nova HC65 crawler.