The purchase took Weldex’s expenditure on new equipment this year alone to over Eur 10million.
Cranes Today was among a handful of guests as the purchase was finalised shortly after 3pm on the second afternoon of the show.
The LR 1160 lifts 160t at 3.7m, while the LR 1200 lifts 220t at 4.1m. The purchase takes the Weldex crawler fleet number to 130 – having recently cut its size from 160.
Weldex chairman and managing director Dougie McGilvray said: “We’ve cut the fleet numbers but in doing so we have improved it.” He added that the older units had aged and the removal of some units and renewal of others was necessary.
Weldex already has LR 1160s, while the 1200s are the first of this model to go into the fleet.
The order brings the total number of Liebherr’s owned by the company to 40, all of which have been bought over the last six years.
The deal was a significant scoop for Liebherr because, although Weldex currently has Liebherr models in its fleet, it represented a further move away from rival manufacturer the Manitowoc Crane Group.
Wolfgang Remlinger, managing director of Liebherr Nenzing, said: “This deal alone represents a good show for us.”
It was a busy show for Weldex with manufacturer Kobelco displaying a CKE600, a 60t multi-purpose crane recently bought by the UK company.
Weldex has also purchased a further three 60t Kobelco units and a 600t Demag CC2800 this year.
