The branch, which employs 40 people, and which sold $96m of cranes in 2006, is a 100% subsidiary of Japanese manufacturer Tadano.

The move supports its strategic plan to have 50:50 export to import ratio in its 2009 fiscal year, Tadano said.

“It has become necessary for us to drastically improve and redevelop a sales and customer support system in the country, while taking into account their potential of expansion in the future, as well as to further build up the boom truck business we have been carrying out in the territory over the past years.”

The new facility has a parts warehouse, garage, exhibition area and training centre. There is also a new mounting plant for boom trucks, “thus enabling us to take on the necessary mounting work by ourselves which we used to entrust to sales distributors,” the company said. “This will no doubt contribute to expanding our boom truck sales.”

The Tadano America Corp business is headed up by Kenichi Sawada. Its new address is 4242 West Greens Road, Houston, Texas 77066, USA.