It is not unusual for Liebherr to deliver several cranes to customers in Germany on a single day. However, it is certainly far from normal procedure for crane contractors to line up with their new machines for a group photograph and it is symbolic for the future.
“Good partnerships between crane hire companies are important and make life easier for the company proprietors and their dispatchers as national work is on the rise”, said Nina Schwarze, managing director of crane contractor Schwarze, based in Garbsen and Braunschweig. Tim Jordt, managing director of crane contractor SönkeJordt, based in Ratekau near Lübeck, agreed: “With the support of colleagues, we can continue to serve local customers who are active throughout Germany.”
The Liebherrplant in Ehingen supports this collaboration and the exchange of information between its crane customers by staging regular events such as its Customer Days, which take place every three years. But there is also an opportunity to exchange views when collecting cranes.
Nina Schwarze said: “We can only benefit from the experience of our colleagues. We even spent the evening together in Ehingen, discussing all sorts of topics from the demand for operators and licensing problems to compliance with working hours.”
Bernd Preusse, the proprietor of Megalift based in Bremen, added: “Of course healthy competition is important, but we have lots of joint interests in our industry. That makes it important to speak with one voice.”