Creditors must decide Maxim’s future
US rental company Amquip is in negotiations with senior creditors of Maxim Crane Works in a bid to persuade them to accept Amquip’s takeover in preference to Maxim’s own pre-negotiated plan for emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Maxim, which is still legally called Anthony Crane Rental, although has done business as Maxim Crane Works since being taken over by venture capitalist Bain Capital in 1999, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 14 June. A rescue deal had been pre-planned; in exchange for reducing Maxim’s debt from approximately $700m to around $250m, primary creditors (banks and financial institutions) would take ownership of the business. $533m of the debt is secured, lent by major banks such as Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
But rival Amquip, together with Maxim’s own president, Al Bove, submitted a petition to the bankruptcy court on 27 September, seeking to open up Maxim to outside bidders. Amquip put itself forward as a stalking-horse bidder with a proposed opening bid of $273m. By the end of the week Bove had parted company with Maxim.
On 7 October the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh threw out Maxim’s pre-negotiated debt-for-equity plan and ordered the business to be liquidated. Amquip and Bove withdrew their motion.
According to Maxim’s senior management, their rescue plan remains live and will proceed in the next couple of months. Amquip, however, has since raised its offer to $325m, representing about 65 cents returned for every dollar owed. It is in negotiations with several major creditors who, according to Amquip general manager Frank Bardanaro, have said they are willing to sell their paper in Maxim, but are asking for 78 cents in the dollar.
Maxim’s pre-negotiated plan, already agreed by creditors, represents about 50 cents in the dollar plus ownership of the business. The decision facing the creditors is whether they continue to believe that Maxim’s management can produce future earnings that will get them their money back, or whether to cash in for as much as possible now.
Bidders have until 29 December to submit firm offers, although that deadline could be pushed back by legal processes.
The creditors are holding out for an offer in the region of $475m, but Bove has put it at $400m. Amquip is reluctant to go higher than its current bid (as of end of October) of $325m. Bardanaro said that Amquip would not pay any premium for the brand name. ‘There is no value in the brand name,’ he said. ‘They even allow their machines to remain named as Anthony, Carlisle, Husky and other companies. They haven’t even changed them after five years. So I think that speaks for itself in the brand name recognition.’
It is unlikely that Amquip would seek to hold the entire Maxim enterprise together. ‘There are certain assets that need to be identified as not the right mix for the company. That’s something we’ll only know after,’ said Bardanaro. The tower crane division, however, has already been identified as one that will be kept.
If Amquip lacks the appetite to expand across the breadth of the country, Bragg Crane is keen to pick up Maxim’s West Coast operations. George Bragg said: ‘I don’t know any strategic buyer [as opposed to institutional investor] that is large enough or willing to take the risk to take over the whole thing.’
He said he expected the business to broken up into regions and that Bragg would be watching closely. ‘We are going to keep our options open and if there is an opportunity to take over the Western operations, we are going to be in the game,’ he said.
Jack Swan, CEO of All Erection said that while his company would not want the whole package, it would be interested in picking up ‘some of the facilities, equipment and possibly some personnel that would fit into the fold of our current business’.
Bigge Crane & Rigging, now under the management of the young Settlemeir brothers, Weston and Reid, is also believed to be interested.
Arcomet expands into the USA
Belgian crane manufacturer and rental house Arcomet has formed a 50-50 joint venture with a mid-Atlantic tower crane rental company, P&J Crane Systems, to rent self-erecting tower cranes in the USA.
The joint venture company, P&J Arcomet, LLC, will have an initial fleet of six Arcomet-manufactured self-erectors, four 40tm-class A42s and two A45s, for hire around P&J’s home market of Manassas, Virginia. Although the company starts with six Arcomet-made cranes, it is free to buy any brand of cranes.
The deal marks the first presence Arcomet has in the USA. The deal follows news of a self-erector joint venture in the UK, Airtek Cranes, in May 2003. The company started with about 40 self-erectors and now has 88. Arcomet is moving away from manufacturing (7% of turnover) to focus on crane rental worlwide, according to Frans Wouters, the new joint managing director of Arcomet following the resignation of Leo Theyskens. In particular, Arcomet currently favours joint ventures, which come with more local knowledge than takeovers, he added.
‘This is a capital-intensive industry. With the support of a company like Arcomet, which has 900 cranes, you can instantly increase your rental fleet,’ said Jehle. ‘Right now P&J has a 98% utilisation rate. We have more demand for our rentals than we can keep up with equipment. But we don’t have the financial resources to buy 100 tower cranes. Our joint venture now owns several fast-erect cranes free of debt. That fleet is out there creating money, and with that cash flow can go out and make further acquisitions. This way we can make a rapid ascension of the business without growing the debt.’
According to senior vice president Stephen Jehle, self-erectors are ideal mounted on rails for building a row of townhouses, or perhaps helping assist the construction of small parking garages. They would not be so useful for building houses, whose frames can go up in two days, Jehle said.
P&J started up in early 2000 and has a fleet of about 30 top-slewing tower cranes, 20 it owns and 10 owned by Arcomet in four locations: Manassas, Houston, Texas, Birmingham, Alabama and Toronto, Ontario. While the self-erecting business grows, it will also be receiving 10 top-slewing tower cranes, one a month from Arcomet.
‘Our goal – which is only verbal now – is to create a joint venture in the larger tower crane business,’ said Jehle. ‘Our intention, particularly with Maxim likely to be going away, is to make a counter to Morrow, which will be here forever, and to offer an alternative to its Liebherr tower cranes. Arcomet can do that.’
P&J Crane Systems has also just become a Terex dealer and next month rents out several Comedil 330tm flat-top CTT-331s.
Mammoet builds new PTC
Early next year marine engineering firm Huisman-Itrec will finish building the third Mammoet heavy-lift platform twin ring crane that is containerised (PTC).
The 1,600t capacity PTC will be the seventh ring crane in Mammoetís fleet ñ and one of the worldís largest mobile cranes. The company’s two existing PTC machines are each rated at 1,600t capacity. The first PTC entered service in 1999 (in Van Seumeren’s colours, before Van Seumeren acquired Mammoet and took the latter’s name) and the second started work in 2001. With a maximum load moment of 33,705tm, these cranes can lift 602t at a radius of 50m, and 96t out at 107m radius.
Crane sections are transported in standard 20ft or 40ft curtain-wall containers, with a maximum weight of 30.4t.
The crane is mainly designed for the erection of columns, for example in operational plants offering only restricted space to rig and operate the crane as well as for longer construction projects and quick movements of heavy loads. The PTCís rigid and sturdy ring construction allows the crane to be moved quickly to a new location within a day on its own optional crawler tracks.
It also features a Superlift configuration that allows it to lift heavier loads with a given counterweight. Standard load bearing is 28t/m2 at maximum capacity. The craneís engines and safety systems are duplicated in case of failure. Hydraulic cylinders can level the ring.
It took about 80 containers to transport one of the older units to Corinth, Greece, to the Motoroil Hellas 2005 Expansion project. The crane, which took 12 days to erect with 85.3m main mast, lifted two reactors with weights of 850t and 750t.
Gold in Greece.jpg
Gold in greece1.jpg
French lifters fight ‘unequal’ mobile rules
French crane operators have vowed to fight what they see as restrictive national regulations regarding the movement of mobile cranes.
‘We are the poor relations of the European lifters,’ Eric Aguettant, president of French crane operators’ union, SNUG, told Cranes Today.
While acknowledging that the new regulations, which came into force in May this year, had made progress, he complained that they placed ‘unacceptable restrictions such as longitudinal division of loads, the ban on movement along motorways and trunk roads, and the ban on movement during… foggy or snowy weather’.
Claude Pibarot, SNUG’s regulations executive, added: ‘Much still needs to be done regarding the matter of movement on motorways.’
SNUG has therefore decided to take its grievances outside France by using the new French chairmanship of ESTA, the European Association of Lifters and Heavy Haulage Contractors, to lobby for change.
Referring to a document called ‘ESTA Agenda 2004, Target and Goal’, which was launched at Bauma, French crane rental company Mediaco’s president, Christian-Jacques Vernazza, who is also president of ESTA and vice-president of SNUG, said: ‘We want to be equal to the European competition.’
The new ESTA document compares each European country’s regulations concerning mobile cranes to show up the ‘huge differences’.
The French regulations govern the movement of exceptional loads in France. Cranes are classified in three categories according to tonnage, and take account of longitudinal load distribution and bulk.
The movement of mobile cranes along motorways remains a sensitive issue, which the new decree has failed to address, and a new axle tax places a heavy financial burden on lifters. According to SNUG, one hour’s use of a mobile crane is 20-30% more expensive in France than abroad.
However, the regulations also contain improvements. For example:
. The increase in total weight for Category 1 and 2 loads have changed from 45 to 48t and from 70 to 72t respectively.
. The duration of movement authorisations has been increased from one to five years for Category 1 and from one to two years in Category 2).
. The longitudinal distribution of load has been increased to 9t per metre between end axles for four-axle cranes, compared with 5t previously.
. Counterweights can be transported on road vehicles in the same category as the cranes (Category 2 maximum), and along the same routes.
. New order forms should make the instruction process easier.
Photo captions
Eric Aguettant, president of SNUG: ‘We are the poor relations of the European lifters’
Christian-Jacques Vernazza, president of ESTA: ‘With ESTA Agenda 2004, we will show the huge differences between countries’
Claude Pibarot, SNUG’s regulations executive: ‘Much still needs to be done regarding the matter of movement on motorways’
CT/Liebherr wind power
Liebherr mobile erects tallest world’s wind power station
The first Liebherr LG 1750 lattice boom crane has erected what is claimed to be the tallest wind power plant in the world, the 5MW Repower company plant close to Brunsbuttel in the North of Germany. Each rotor blade is 61.5m long and weighs 18, and the hub height is 120m. When it begins operation, the plant will generate 17 million kilowatt-hours per annurn and ultimately supply 4,000 homes with current in the Elbe harbour.
The LG 1750, launched by Liebherr at the Bauma show in Munich in the spring, is an eight-axle mobile crane of 96t weight. It arrived at the job site in Brunsbuttel in a convoy of 48 low loaders.
The heaviest component in the wind power plant weighed 170t, and this section had to be positioned at 26m radius and a height under hook of around 85m. The crane handled this load-case with the 105m long lattice boom and the 42m derrick boom.
For the last three big lifts – top tower section, machinery deck, and blade star – the four-man Nolte team extended the boom to 122m and mounted to it an off-set 12m jib.
Because of the high set-up of the basic equipment – the slewing ring is already situated at a height of nearly 5m – Liebherr said that this way it was possible to attain a pulley head height of 135m.
The last part of the tower was erected in this configuration. Again at a radius of 26m, the crane positioned the steel cylinder of 40m and thus completed the tower of 115m.
The crane also positioned the machinery deck, which weighed 142t, was 18m long, and 6m high. The machinery deck was completed with other components such as power train, generator and deck crane before the giant blade star with its 126m rotor diameter could be assembled on the ground.
An anemometer on top of the crane continuously signalled to the 25-man site erection team gusts with wind speeds of up to 9m per second. This was too much to lift the propeller so it was suspended on the hook of the LG 1750 for several hours. Late in the evening, the wind conditions allowed the three-blade hub to be lifted to a height of 120m. Illuminated by spotlights, the blade star was bolted to the machinery deck, and the windmill completed.
Valla has launched a new version of its 2t capacity walk-behind yard crane, the 20E. Serial production of 10 units of this version begins this month, according to managing director Maurizio Manzini and the craneís designer, Emilio Berti.
In contrast to previous versions, the size of its back load-bearing wheel has increased, and the wheelís surface material has been changed. Both changes should reduce the force that the wheel presses down on the ground, but tests have not yet been done to ascertain by how much.
The 2kW AC motor is also new. It should consume less electricity and offer better performance than the older DC SEM ñ separate excitation motor. The AC motors can also do not have the heat problems associated with overloading in DC motors, according to Berti.
The new modelís gearbox has been moved toward the back of the crane to allow for more clearance in front of the rear wheel.
Weight and cost remain the same.
Wired or radio remote control for lifting functions will continue to be an option. Travel controls are built into the back of the machine.
DSC00969.JPG The new 2t capacity Valla 20E ñ handbag not included
Berlin crane rental company Mobi-Hub has taken delivery of Spieringsí SK599-AT5, first shown at Bauma in April. The 117tm SK599-AT5 has a 50m jib and fully-automatic folding jib. According to the company, the crane unfolds at a height of 16m, reducing the ground space needed for rigging. The company has also delivered two Mighty Tiny cranes ñ SK1265-AT6 ñ to Montaco Belgium and Fl¸ck Zurich in Switzerland, and a smaller SK488-AT4 for Neeb in Wuppertal, Germany.
spiering 2.1.jpg
MK100 mobile construction works on the Dom Aquaree in Berlin
An MK 100 mobile construction crane, introduced by Liebherr at the 2004 Bauma exhibition, was used at the end of June at the Dome Aquaree construction site in Berlin, where glass components had to be positioned accurately in restricted conditions between two buildings. The crane, belonging to BTB Logistik GmbH, Berlin was driven 650km from the Liebherr factory in Biberach to carry out this work.
The MK100 features a 338kW (460HP) Liebherr turbocharged diesel engine. It was driven in full ready-for-operation trim with tower, jib, full ballast, electrical generator and adjustable-height cabin. In the travelling position, it is 16.65m long, 3m wide and 4m high.
The crane was first manoeuvred between two 30m high buildings in a street 30m long and 8m wide, a task Liebherr says was assisted by the individual steering at all five axles.
Six electronic driving programmes are available at the touch of a button for manoeuvring purposes, including road steering, all-wheel steering, diagonal movement and steering with limited rear-end swing-out.
The crane chassis was supported by four hydraulically extending sliding outriggers and support jacks with fixed support pads. It was kept level automatically during the supporting process.
After presetting the height of the hook to the required 33m, the entire setting up process was carried out under programme control and automatically monitored. The necessary working radius was 52m.
The installation of the 400kg glass components was able to begin within about 15 minutes, once the crane was erected.
Effer counters rumours of financial problems
‘Business is not brilliant, but very good,’ said sales and marketing director Pierluigi Franceschi. He denied that the company was refused credit by its bank, or that it was bankrupt, or going bankrupt.
He did admit that the company suffered cash flow problems in the first half of the year that forced it to postpone payments to a few suppliers.
However, he added that all of the debts would be paid by the end of the year. ‘Consider that Effer never failed to pay one salary,’ he said.
He blamed the problems on three causes: a weak Italian market in 2003 following the closure of two Italian government subsidies for new equipment that put buyers off buying; the collapse of the company’s German dealer, and the ‘financial crisis’ of a Swiss importer. Both dealer problems forced the company to write off millions of Euros, he said.
The company expects to achieve a turnover of Euro 48m this year – up 18% year on year – having sold about 2,600 cranes (up 4% on last year). It expects about 8,500 loader cranes to be sold in Italy in 2004.
Heerema Marine Contractors has bought a Kobelco CKE2500 crawler crane to adapt for its Balder deepwater construction vessel. The 250t capacity crane is replacing the previous assist crane that helps the Balderís 2,700t capacity port crane and 3,600t starboard crane.
To operate in extreme weather, the KOBELCO CKE2500 has been specially prepared with marine paint and several back-up systems, from double brake systems on the winch to an electric back-up system approved by Lloydís Register in case of engine failure.
For enhanced visibility, the cab is raised to 4m meter above the deck of the vessel.
The 64m boom offers a maximum working radius of 58m. A 3m long auxiliary sheave (goose neck) is fitted on the boom top for the auxiliary hook running from the first drum. An additional sheave for the man-riding winch is mounted in the middle of the auxiliary sheave. The man-riding winch is mounted in the boom foot.
The crane is expected to be assembled in HMCís USA facilities at Port Fourchon, Louisiana in November 2004 and begin operations this month. The fully assembled unit will then lifted on to the deck.
ASSEMBLY-BASEMAÖHEEREMA-001.JPG
HEEREMA-Balder_J-Lay Side.jpg
Mammoet has moved an 11,900t oil and gas platform on a total of 1,880 wheels. The platform, loaded out on to a barge from its UK fabrication site within the span of the ebb and flow of a single tide, will be installed west of the Shetland islands.
DSC04862.JPG
Tadano Faun has sold two modified ATF 60-4 with water hose attached to the boom for the fire services of the cities of Hannover and Braunschweig, Germany. Water throughput is a maximum of 5,000 L/min. The cranes were also equipped with 20t winches, among other improvements.
Pic: dscf0016.jpg and inset Monitor_02.jpg
Pic story:
Vanson’s VC30, a 40tm self-erecting tower crane, has been lifting chalk and steel linings for a UK train tunnel.
The crane stacked and positioned the materials, 850kg steel rings for tunnel linings, and moved and stacked 1000m3 of chalk. Whilst working, it unfolded the 30m jib. When it needed to lift alongside the banks, the jib was folded in half to avoid hitting obstacles.
The crane was set up in a 66m gap between two sections of the tunnel on the Strood railway line in Kent. The crane was loaded on to a special rail car and pulled through the tunnel. On the other side, it was lifted on jacks, turned 90° and moved on to the base using pulling equipment anchored to the banks. A small rail crane loaded the ballast.
Client is Network rail and main contractors are Costain and Amalgamated Construction. The designer is Halcrow.
Hc pic
Pic story:
Grúas y transportes Artexte of Spain has used its Goldhofer girder bridge to move a 300t turbine 40km through Bilbao. The journey took two days. The convoy had a total length of 84 meters. The girder bridge was mounted on 28 THP/SL Godhofer modules plus two four-axle trucks at front and back. The turbine was destined for a new power plant in Boroa – Amorebieta.
stb-artetxe.JPG
Giant Terex-Demag crawler crane in first German near-shore wind power project
A Terex-Demag CC 8800 crawler crane, providing a lifting capacity of up to 1,250t and boom lengths of up to 216m has been used to help build the first German near-shore wind-power project, which has been put into service by wind power installation designer ENOVA. The height of the hub is 108m, rotor blades are 53m in length, and the weight of the steel tower is 850t.
Engineers in charge of the project called upon Belgium-based crane operator Sarens – claimed to be the only European company to have a Terex-Demag CC 8800 – to help with the assembly.
Apart from the sheer dimensions, the location in the middle of the Ems River constituted a challenge. The crane and all power plant components had to be loaded onto a pontoon in order to complete the assembly. The tower components were completed first. Subsequently, the plant’s engine carrier, generator, hub and rotor blades were mounted at height.
For these challenging tasks the crane was configured SSL/ LSL at a system length of 138m. The Superlift counterweight of 400t complemented the 100t central weight at height and the 220t counterweight.
Terex-Demag said that, with 92 offshore plants projected in the North Sea, its CC 8800 would play an important role in the future
Hc pic
Smalls:
UK safety body the Health and Safety Commission has drawn up a new consultation period on the 2m height rule. Earlier this year, the Health and Safety Executive planned to revise its working at height regulations to remove the 2m rule currently on the books. These draft regulations specified that construction companies should use handrails and fall protection systems when workers were at any risky height above the ground, rather than 2m, as has been standard in the construction industry.
Following a meeting last month, the HSC decided to consult with the industry. UK contractor group the Construction Confederation has led a call to keep the 2m rule. ‘There has already been extensive consultation on these regulations, although not on this particular point and because it may have implications for our stakeholders generally, we felt it was important to seek their views now on this issue,’ said Bill Callaghan, Chair of HSC. The consultation period ends 3 December.
Kevin Aspinall has been made technical director of UK rigging firm Lifting Solutions. He had previously worked for Bridon and Certex.
Pic: Kevin Aspinall1MR.JPG
US construction equipment modeler has launched a new crane model. The $170 357 Unit “0” Gauge Model Toy is patterned after a 1950s pressed steel toy originally made by the Doepke Manufacturing Company. It is 8in (200mm) high with boom fully erected. It comes with working outriggers, rubber tires, articulated towbar steering and a thumb-wheel that rotates the cab 360 degrees. Functioning hoists raise and lower the open lattice boom through the equalizer suspension as well as operate the load block and clamshell bucket.
Pic: UNITPR.jpg
A UK firm has launched specialist operator training for drivers of heavy equipment, including crane driving. The company is owned by Southhampton Cargo Handling PLC.
AGD Equipment supplied a 2.9t capacity IHI CCH30T to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry for lifting lighting towers for the outdoor production of ‘Rootz -The Spectacular’ inside the ruins of the old Coventry Cathedral. The rubber crawler tracks, 4t total weight and 1.7 metre width allowed the crane to enter through the arched doorway and work on the stone floor.
Pic: Image013_12.jpg
East Coast Cranes has been contracted to maintain 20 STS cranes for APMT at six
major ports in six states, including here at APM’s facility in Port Elizabeth,
New Jersey. The four-year deal is worth more than $1m. ECC specializes in
maintenance and repair services for STS cranes, RTGs, RMGs, straddle
carriers, mobile harbor cranes and shipboard cranes.
