[매거진] Crane History - 크레인의 기원

2022년 11월 17일 크레인 히스토리

1966년 Cranes의 첫 번째 호가 나왔을 때 이미 잘 확립된 크레인 산업이 있었습니다. 그 당시 잡지에 실린 뉴스의 대부분은 크고 다양한 영국의 크레인 산업에 초점을 맞추었습니다. 미국과 많은 유럽 국가에도 잘 확립된 크레인 제조 회사가 있었고 크레인이 전 세계적으로 판매되고 사용되었지만, 그 당시 이러한 활동에 대한 소식을 얻는 것은 정말 어려운 일이었습니다.

1930년대 이래로 미국에서 크레인 임대(렌털)가 확고히 자리 잡았고 1960년대에는 영국에서 빠르게 성장했지만 유럽에서는 훨씬 덜 성장했습니다. 세기가 바뀌면서 이전의 증기 구동 크레인은 크롤러 베이스에 장착된 가솔린(가솔린) 및 디젤 구동 크레인과 점점 더 정교해지는 동력 전달 장치가 있는 고무 타이어 자체 추진 섀시로 자리를 옮겼습니다. 대부분의 크레인이 기계적 전달 장치에 의존했지만 Coles Cranes, Gottwald 등과 같은 일부 제조업체는 디젤 전기 시스템을 선호했습니다.

크롤러 랜딩 캐리지의 사용은 1911년 미국의 Bucyrus가 14형 드래그라인으로 개척했습니다. 1914년 P&H가 모델 210으로 최초의 가솔린 ​​엔진 구동 굴삭기/크레인을 출시했습니다. 디젤 엔진이 등장하면서 1932년 굴삭기/크레인 시장 선두주자인 Lorain이 Cat 디젤을 설치했습니다. 1934년 Eisenwerk Rothe Erde는 업계 표준이었던 후크 앤 롤러 스윙 시스템에 대한 고급 옵션으로 볼 베어링 슬루 링을 출시했습니다. 1941년 Manitowoc은 65톤 용량의 3900을 최초의 특수 설계 크롤러 크레인 중 하나로 출시했고 1945년 Lorain의 새로운 TL 시리즈는 주조 및 리벳을 사용하는 것이 아니라 완전히 용접된 상부 작업을 갖춘 최초의 시리즈였습니다.

콜스 크레인이 1922년 최초의 트럭 크레인을 출시하면서 선구자가 되었지만, 대서양 건너편에서도 유니버설(후에 로레인으로 명칭 변경), 하니슈페거 P&H, 베이 시티, 오튼 & 슈타인브레너와 같은 회사들이 이러한 개발을 주도하며 앞서 나갔습니다.

최초의 타워 크레인은 프랑스의 Jules Weitz와 Grues Besnard가 개발했고, 독일의 Julius Wolff와 Carl Peschke, 그리고 Peschke의 아들 Karl이 개발했습니다. 이들은 일반적으로 1톤 이하의 용량과 5~16m의 도달 범위를 가진 소형 크레인이었습니다.

인수를 통해 엄청나게 강력해진 또 다른 회사인 Koehring Company는 1964년에 영국의 Ransomes & Rapier의 40%를 인수해서 NCKRapier를 설립했고, 2년 뒤에는 독일에서 가장 오래된 굴삭기/크레인 생산업체 중 하나인 함부르크의 Menck & Hambrock의 70%를 인수했습니다.

1960년대에도 중국 기업들은 이미 소형 타워크레인을 개발하고 있었습니다.

20세기 상반기에 모바일 크레인은 점점 더 크고 강력해졌습니다. 그러나 크레인이 독립적인 이동성을 달성하기 전인 19세기 후반에 유럽의 주요 도시 중 일부에서 소형 타워 크레인이 작동했습니다. 이를 만든 사람 중에는 독일의 Carl Peschke와 Julius Wolff가 있었습니다. 1927년에는 독일 Zweibrucken의 Pekazette와 이탈리아 밀라노의 Carlo Ferro가 합류했습니다.

이 초기 타워 크레인은 오프셋 러핑 지브가 있는 소형 바텀 슬러어였으며, 1~3톤의 리프팅 용량과 5~15m의 작업 반경을 가졌습니다. 이 소형 타워 크레인이 개발되면서 유럽 전역의 주택 건설업체의 필수품이 되었고, 그 결과 프랑스, ​​독일, 이탈리아, 포르투갈, 스위스에 특히 뿌리를 내린 새롭고 역동적인 제조 산업이 탄생했습니다.

그러나 타워 크레인이 유럽 전역에 널리 퍼졌음에도 불구하고 영국에서의 사용은 심각하게 제한되었습니다. 이는 부분적으로 '여기서 발명되지 않았다'는 태도가 만연했기 때문입니다. 영국의 수작업 벽돌과 모르타르로 집을 짓는 접근 방식도 역할을 했고, 항구, 채석장, 조선소 및 조선소에서 장거리 리프팅의 필수품이 된 널리 사용되고 현지에서 제조된 스카치 데릭(또는 스티프 레그 데릭)도 마찬가지였습니다. 주요 제조업체는 글래스고의 버터스 브라더스로, 영국 제국 전역과 그 너머에서 이러한 간단한 크레인을 수천 대 판매하는 데 성공했습니다.

다른 곳에서는 유압 크레인 개발과 수요가 전 세계적으로 계속되었습니다. 일부 전통적인 기계식 크레인과 굴삭기가 끌려들었습니다.

첫 번째는 굴삭기 제조업체인 Bucyrus-Erie로, 1948년에 2~5톤 용량의 세계 최초의 텔레스코픽 트럭 장착 크레인을 개발한 소규모 지역 회사인 Milwaukee Hydraulics를 인수했습니다. 이 크레인은 2축 상업용 트럭에 장착되었으며 3개 섹션의 캔틸레버 텔레스코픽 35피트(10.7m) 붐이 특징이었습니다.

1948년 영국 런던의 크리스털 팰리스에서 열린 최초의 기계 취급 전시회에 대해 Commercial Motor의 8월 저널은 다소 과장된 자랑을 했습니다. "지난 2년 동안 기계 취급 산업은 상당한 확장을 보였으며, 그 결과 이 ​​나라[영국]는 이제 세계에서 찾을 수 있는 어떤 장비보다 좋은 장비를 자랑할 수 있게 되었습니다." 전시품에는 1톤 용량의 Coles 전기식 풀슬루 모바일 크레인과 2톤 및 4톤 용량의 Jones 모바일 크레인이 포함되었습니다.

15년 후인 1963년에 가장 눈에 띄는 것은 반경 12피트(3.66m)에 75톤(100미국 톤)을 견딜 수 있는 콜스 센추리온 격자형 트럭 크레인으로, 세계에서 가장 큰 트럭 크레인으로 각광받았습니다.

중부 유럽의 프랑스, ​​이탈리아, 독일, 스위스와 같은 나라에서는 소형 자체 설치형 타워 크레인이 주거 건설에 선호되는 유형으로 모바일 크레인을 대체했습니다. 1970년대에는 새로운 제조업체가 서비스를 제공하는 시장에 등장했습니다.

프랑스의 Potain과 독일의 Liebherr는 시장 선도적 지위를 강화했지만 수십 개의 지역 제조업체가 경쟁에 합류했습니다. 1970년대 중반에는 이탈리아에서 번창하는 타워 크레인 산업이 발전했고 Conedil, Simma, Trojsi, FM Gru, Fergru, Alfa, Fergru와 같은 회사가 합류했습니다.

거친 지형에서 Pettibone은 1961년 최초의 15톤으로 선두를 달리고, 1965년 최초의 35톤, 1969년 최초의 40톤으로 도약했습니다. 이 모든 것이 캡다운 크레인이었습니다. 미국에서 Sargent는 1967년 18톤 모델로 세계 최초의 스윙 캡 거친 지형을 선보였습니다. 그 뒤를 이어 1968년 Grove가 25톤을 선보였습니다.

초기 유압 크레인의 들어올리는 용량과 도달 범위는 매우 제한적이었고 신뢰성도 입증되지 않았지만, 작동 속도와 비교적 사용 편리성 덕분에 즉시 시장 수요를 충족시켰고 매출이 극적으로 성장했습니다.

1960년대 후반에 미국 산업용 텔레스코픽 크레인의 생산량은 1967년 2,000대에서 1968년 2,400대, 1969년 3,700대로 급격히 증가했습니다. 대략 55%가 험지용, 10%가 산업용, 35%가 트럭용 크레인이었습니다. 그때까지 미국 생산량의 약 20-25%가 주로 유럽으로 수출되었습니다.

1970년대와 1980년대에 유압 및 자동차 부품의 기술적 한계로 인해 유압 크레인 개발이 심각하게 제한되어 기계식 격자 붐 트럭 및 크롤러 크레인의 수명이 연장되었습니다. 사실, 1960년대 후반에 전 세계 격자 크레인 판매가 계속 증가하여 연간 12,000-15,000대에 도달했습니다. 그 당시 텔레스코픽 붐 크레인은 여전히 ​​용량과 도달 범위가 제한적이었습니다. 1960년대 후반에 독일의 주요 격자 트럭 크레인 제조업체는 이미 300톤 용량 크레인을 생산하고 500톤을 개발하고 있었습니다. 격자 붐의 리프팅 성능과 길이는 1950년대 초에 US Steel이 T-1 합금강을 개발하면서 크게 개선되었습니다.

T-1을 사용하는 미국 제조업체, 특히 Manitowoc과 American Hoist는 1960년대 후반에 200톤 크롤러 크레인을 출시했습니다. 1960년대 후반에 독일의 Gottwald는 스트럿 또는 타워 구성으로 사용할 수 있는 300톤 용량의 트럭 크레인을 제작했습니다.

초창기부터 미국 격자 붐 크레인 및 굴삭기 산업은 해외 시장 기회를 빠르게 활용하고 이를 자본화했습니다. 그들과 몇몇 영국 크레인 제조업체는 합작 제조 자회사를 설립하거나 해외에서 제조 운영을 허가했습니다. 1930년대부터 그들은 전 세계에 제조 운영을 설립했습니다. 종종 관세 장벽과 수입 통제로 보호받는 국가나 외화 가용성이 제한된 국가에 설립했습니다.

텔레스코픽 크레인

1950년대부터 일본에서는 텔레스코픽 트럭 크레인 개념을 빠르게 도입하여 타다노, 가토, 유닉이라는 3개 공급업체가 주도하는 강력한 국내 수요를 창출했습니다.

이러한 측면에서 이러한 제조업체는 차량을 제공하기 위해 국가의 강화된 트럭 산업의 중요한 지원을 요청하여 '크레인'만 생산했습니다. 최초의 특수 목적 크레인 캐리어 섀시는 각각 1960년과 1961년에 Mitsubishi Fuso와 Nissan에서 제작했으며 1960년대 중반에는 Kato에서 제작했습니다. 그런 다음 Tadano는 (상업용) 트럭 장착 크레인 라인에 캐리어 장착 트럭 크레인을 추가했습니다. 1969년에 (캐리어 장착) 트럭 크레인에 대한 일본 국내 수요는 4배 증가하여 1,100대가 되었고 1970년에는 1,500대에 도달했습니다.

미쓰비시와 닛산은 전문 크레인 캐리어 섀시를 생산한 최초의 대규모 상업용 트럭 제조업체였습니다. 그 당시 세계의 크레인 제조업체 중 소수만이 자체 캐리어를 생산했습니다. 영국의 Coles와 미국의 P&H가 주목할 만한 예외였습니다.

미국에서는 많은 제조업체가 시장 점유율을 놓고 경쟁을 벌이면서 Grove, Pettibone, P&H가 선두주자가 되었고, 유럽에서는 Coles Cranes가 단연 가장 강력한 공급업체가 되었습니다.

유럽에서는 뒤셀도르프의 레오 고트발트가 1968년 출시한 400톤 용량의 MK 600으로 세계에서 가장 높은 모바일 크레인 경쟁에서 손쉽게 승리했습니다. 8축 모바일(트럭 장착형이 아님) 크레인인 MK 600은 붐 길이가 최대 100m, 타워 길이가 최대 83m이고, 러핑 지브가 75m로 최대 높이가 160m에 달했습니다.

1970년대에는 텔레스코픽 크레인이 점차 중소 규모 용량(10~100톤) 분야에서 선호되는 모바일 크레인 유형으로 자리 잡았습니다.

독일에서 Leo Gottwald는 잘 설계된 격자형 및 텔레스코픽 붐 트럭 크레인으로 시장 리더십을 확립했습니다. 1966년 Gottwald는 18톤 용량의 AMK 45-21 2축 텔레스코픽을 출시했는데, 이는 나중에 모든 지형 크레인의 선구자로 인정받았습니다.

처음에는 유압 크레인의 잠재력을 일시적인 유행으로 무시했지만, 많은 대형의 잘 확립된 기계/격자 붐 크레인 제조업체는 소형에서 중형 격자 크레인의 판매가 꾸준히 감소함에 따라 뒤늦게 자체 텔레스코픽을 개발하기 시작했습니다. 그러나 대형 격자 크레인에 대한 수요가 증가함에 따라 선도적인 격자 크레인 제조업체는 텔레스코픽 개발보다는 제품군의 상위 엔드 개발에 집중했습니다.

1975년 Gottwald는 140톤 AMK 155-53으로 세계 최대의 텔레스코픽 크레인으로 왕관을 차지했습니다. 첫 번째 유닛은 영국의 Scotts와 벨기에의 Sarens가 구매했습니다. 비교적 작은 회사인 Gottwald는 뛰어난 설계 및 엔지니어링 역량으로 자리매김했습니다. 1978년 회사는 200톤 용량의 AMK 200-103 텔레 트럭 크레인으로 다시 업계 정상에 올랐습니다.

American Hoist와 Manitowoc은 대형 격자형 크레인에 대한 전 세계 수요를 주도했으며, 1970년부터 1975년까지 American의 100톤 이상 용량의 판매량은 2,000만 달러에서 8,400만 달러로 증가했습니다(대형 해상 바지선과 선박 장착 크레인 포함).

1970년대 중반까지 유압 크레인 제조업체의 수는 25개국에서 제조된 약 140개 회사로 증가했습니다. 경쟁 공급업체의 수가 계속 늘어나면서 신제품 개발의 속도와 양이 증가했습니다. 많은 사람들이 텔레스코픽 크레인이 도달 범위와 용량 면에서 근본적으로 제한적이라고 생각했지만, 최초의 100톤 트럭 크레인(Grove TM 1075)은 1974년에 출시되었고 그 다음 해에 Grove가 125톤(113톤) TM 1275 트럭 크레인에 최초의 52.7m 텔레스코픽 붐을 다시 출시했습니다.

1970년대와 1980년대에 Mannesmann-Demag는 대용량 격자형 크레인 시장에서 선두 주자로서의 입지를 강화했습니다. 1980년에 이 회사는 800톤 CC 4000으로 새로운 벤치마크를 설정했고, 곧 CC 4800에 의해 추월당했고, 1996년에는 1600톤 CC 12600에 의해 추월당했습니다. 초중량 크롤러 크레인에 대한 글로벌 수요가 확대됨에 따라, 2001년에 Demag는 1250톤 CC 8800을 추가했고, 이는 1,600톤 용량의 CC 8800-1로 성숙했으며, 2008년에 CC 8800-1 TWIN이 출시되면서 '문자 그대로' 두 배가 되었습니다.

하지만 램슨 트랜시-리프트를 언급하지 않고는 대형 크롤러 크레인에 대한 논의를 완료할 수 없습니다.

최초로 닐 F. 램슨이 1974년에 설계한 트랜시-리프트는 지난 40년 동안 규모가 커져 최대 용량이 3,000톤에 달합니다.

이 규모 클래스의 새로운 경쟁자는 3,000톤 용량의 Liebherr LR 13000입니다. 이 괴물은 '기존' 트윈 크롤러에서 사용할 수 있는 가장 큰 크레인입니다(Demag CC 8800-1 'TWIN'의 4개 크롤러 2세트와 대조적으로). 이미 4~5대의 LR 13000이 사용 중인 이 크레인(새로 발표된 2,500톤 LR 12500-1.0과 함께)은 1,000톤 LR 11000과 1,350톤 LR 13500으로 중형 크롤러 크레인 리그에서 이미 지배적인 위치를 차지하고 있는 Liebherr의 입지를 더욱 강화하고자 합니다.

1989년 Liebherr는 기술을 더욱 강조하면서 모바일 크레인을 모니터링하고 제어하는 ​​LICCON 시스템을 공개했습니다. 1990년 독일 경제가 회복되면서 Liebherr는 독일군으로부터 무려 459대의 전지형 크레인 계약을 수주했습니다.

전 세계적으로 타워크레인 시장은 1970년대와 1980년대에 형성되었습니다.

1980년대 초에 새로운 '품종'인 City Crane이 등장했습니다. 이 개념은 대부분의 유럽 제조업체에서 빠르게 채택되었습니다. 이들은 단면 치수가 줄어든 타워(마스트)로 구별되었으며, 충돌로 인한 사고가 심각한 문제가 되고 있는 도시 건설 현장의 혼잡과 관련이 있었습니다.

자체 설치 크레인 분야에서 제조업체는 유압 구동 장치를 점점 더 많이 채택하고 있습니다. 1990년대에 자체 설치 크레인의 크기와 용량이 상당히 증가했습니다. 가장 큰 크레인은 이제 100톤-미터 이상의 하중 모멘트를 제공했으며 도달 범위는 50m를 넘고 후크 높이는 40m를 넘습니다. 이전에 표준 새들 지브 크레인의 영역이었던 작업을 처리할 수 있는 이 다재다능한 크레인은 계속해서 적용 분야와 수요를 확대했습니다.

Bauma '98에서 Liebherr는 'Litronic'을 출시하여 다시 한번 기술적 역량을 확장했습니다. 'Litronic'은 주파수 변환기 크레인 제어 및 관리 시스템으로서 처음에는 대형 상부 선회 타워 크레인에 표준으로 적용되었으며 이후 Liebherr 크레인 제품군 전체로 확산되었습니다.

그해의 쇼는 Liebherr의 가장 큰 텔레스코픽인 500톤 용량의 LTM 1500-8.1이 소개되면서 주도권을 잡았습니다. 이 8축 크레인은 2021년 말까지 626대가 판매되어 역대 가장 많이 팔린 대형 모바일 크레인이 되었고, 그 후 단종되어 650톤 LTM 1650-8.1로 대체되었습니다.

2001년, Ameco가 캐나다 서부의 Syncrude 오일샌드 공장을 확장하는 프로젝트를 수주했을 때, Terex 기계 100대를 주문했습니다. 분명히, 오일은 항상 크레인 산업의 펌프를 가동했습니다.

수요와 판매가 급증했음에도 불구하고 일본은 부품 부족으로 어려움을 겪었고, 납품 기간이 6개월 이상으로 늘어났습니다.

그때까지 Kato의 생산량은 60%가 거친 지형이고 거의 40%가 트럭 크레인이었습니다. 유럽과 달리 모든 지형이 일본의 모바일 크레인 생산에서 간신히 특징지어졌습니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 일본은 아시아와 동남아시아의 빠르게 성장하는 시장을 개척할 수 있었습니다. 수요가 안정되고 중동에서 감소하자 태평양 연안 시장과 궁극적으로 중국 시장이 보상했습니다.

하지만 이러한 증가하는 수요는 단순히 전통적인 15~50톤 클래스뿐만 아니라 소위 '미니 크레인'에 대한 수요도 있었습니다. 이는 최대 4.9톤 용량의 소형 험로 및 텔레 붐 크롤러 크레인으로, 일본의 혼잡한 도시 인프라에 완벽하게 적합함이 입증되었습니다.

세계의 반대편에서 크레인 제조업체는 지역 문제에 몰두했습니다. 전지형 크레인은 1970년대 후반과 1980년대 초반에 중요한 요소가 되기 시작했고, 1980년대 중반에는 유럽 대륙 대부분에서 선호하는 크레인 임대 도구로 트럭 크레인을 대체했습니다.

독일 제조업체도 북미와 일본 시장에 첫 번째 시험적인 발을 내디뎠습니다. 이러한 새로운 시장 진출에서 특히 중요한 것은 80~300톤 용량의 대형 텔레스코픽 트럭과 전지형 크레인이었습니다.

이 무렵 미국과 일본의 크레인 산업은 모두 경쟁력 있는 대형 텔레스코픽 크레인 설계에서 초기 주도적 역할을 잃었습니다.

1978년 Gottwald는 200톤 AMK 200-103 텔레 트럭 크레인으로 다시 한 번 도전을 높였고, 400톤 AMK 400-93으로 도전을 두 배로 늘렸습니다. 200톤은 상당한 성공을 거두었지만, 400톤은 소수만 판매되었습니다.

심각한 불황
라호마주 오클라호마 시티에 있는 Terex 공장으로 생산을 이전한다고 발표했습니다. 2019년에 Terex는 트럭 크레인 및 붐 트럭 제품 라인을 Load King에 매각했습니다. 최대 80톤(72톤) 용량의 이전 Terex 붐 트럭 및 트럭 크레인 라인은 Load King 'Stinger'라는 브랜드로 명명되었습니다.

Terex US 험지형 크레인 생산은 중단되었고 험지형 생산은 이탈리아 크레스펠라노에서 계속되었습니다. 2022년 Terex는 오클라호마 시티 공장을 폐쇄하고 Genie 텔레핸들러 라인의 생산을 멕시코 몬테레이의 새로운 공장으로 이전할 것이라고 발표했습니다.

환상적인 빛

수십 년간 와이어 로프에 의존해 온 후, 2012년에 근본적인 변화의 첫 징후가 나타났습니다. 그해 미국 로프 제조업체 Samson은 K-100 섬유 로프 제품군을 발표했는데, 이 제품군은 곧 Manitowoc 격자 붐 크롤러 크레인과 Grove 거친 지형, 트럭 크레인, 붐 트럭에 옵션으로 제공될 예정입니다.

2019년 Liebherr는 8개의 플랫 탑으로 구성된 EC-B 시리즈를 출시했는데, 그 중 3개는 Teufelberger와 협력하여 개발한 soLITE 고강도 섬유 로프와 함께 사용할 수 있습니다. 2019년 Wolffkran은 섬유 로프 회사인 독일의 Trowic GmbH에 대한 지분을 인수했습니다.

푸네의 포테인

2019년 Manitowoc은 인도 푸네에 새로운 Potain 제조 공장을 발표했습니다. 그곳에서 수년간 이전 라이선스인 Shirke와 함께 Potain 타워를 생산해 왔습니다. 중국 장자강에 있는 공장에 추가되어 Potain은 아시아 공급원으로부터 신흥 시장을 '두 번' 접할 수 있었습니다. 원래 장자강에 있는 합작 공장은 1980년에 문을 열었지만 현재 56,000m2 규모의 공장은 2012년에 문을 열었고 2018년 말까지 6,000대 이상의 크레인을 생산했습니다.

Bauma 2019 직후, Arcomet과 Matebat은 이전 Manitowoc 임원이자 현재 Matebat의 회장이자 Arcomet의 CEO인 Phiippe Cohet이 관리하는 새 이름인 Uperio를 발표했습니다. Uperio의 주요 사업은 전 세계적으로 2,200대의 크레인을 보유한 타워 크레인 렌털이며, 프랑스에서는 Potain 유통업체, Terex Towers 유통업체, 미국에서는 P&J Arcomet 사업을 통한 Zoomlion 유통업체로도 운영될 것입니다. Cohet이 표명한 야망 중 하나는 원격 연결 및 기계 제어를 통해 이 다양한 크레인 플릿을 합리화하는 것이었습니다.

Bauma에서 XCMG 회장 왕 민은 "수출을 시작할 때 우리는 아시아, 동남아시아, 아프리카와 같은 중저가 시장을 먼저 목표로 삼았습니다. 부품 공급과 서비스 지원이 문제가 되었다는 것을 알고 있습니다. 우리는 애프터 서비스 관리에 그다지 강하지 않았습니다. 고객이 정확한 부품을 찾는 데 어려움이 있었습니다."라고 말했습니다.

2019년에는 북미에서 AMCS Technologies DCS 60 장치를 조기에 설치하여 금지된 상공 비행 구역을 관리하고 두 개의 러핑 붐 타워 크레인의 간섭을 피했습니다. DCS 60은 실시간으로 3D로 작동하여 각 크레인 간의 거리와 이동 속도를 계산합니다.

AMCS 장치를 가장 먼저 사용한 장비 중에는 시애틀과 밴쿠버에서 운영되던 Jaso J380PA 루퍼 2대가 있었고, 그 뒤로는 Comedil CTL 272-18 루퍼와 CTT 202 플랫탑이 사용되었습니다.

한편, 항저우에 있는 Comansa의 공장도 수요를 충족하기 위해 확장되었고 여러 가지 새로운 모델이 출시되었습니다. 싱가포르, 홍콩, 한국과 같은 동남아시아 국가에서도 그랬듯이, 중국은 PPVC 조립식 건설에 대한 수요를 충족하기 위해 25~50톤 용량에 달하는 상당히 큰 타워 크레인을 요구했습니다. 이러한 추세에 대응하여 장자강은 Bauma China 2019에서 20t, 25t, 32t 윈치를 선택할 수 있는 가장 큰 플랫탑 크레인인 MCT 565를 출시했습니다.

플랫탑(탑리스) 크레인은 중국과 전 세계에서 점점 더 인기를 얻고 있지만, 한국 등 일부 국가에서는 Potain MC 310과 같은 전통적인 해머헤드 크레인이 여전히 매우 인기를 유지하고 있습니다.

플랫탑 타워 크레인이 2000년대와 2010년대에 상당한 시장 틈새를 개척했던 것처럼, 제조업체가 해머헤드의 이점과 이 '새로운' 종류의 이점을 균형 있게 조정하려고 하면서, '로우탑'이라는 다소 번거로운 이름을 가진 세 번째 종류가 등장했습니다. 이는 중간 범주의 일종이지만, 명확하게 정의할 수 있는 이점이 있습니다. 한편, 2019년에 Liebherr는 최대 용량이 125톤인 1000 EC-B 125의 형태로 가장 큰 플랫탑을 출시했습니다.

2019년, 현재 중국과 세계 최대의 타워 크레인 제조업체인 Zoomlion이 창더에 거대한 신규 공장을 열었습니다. 이는 2016년에 시작된 7억 8천만 위안 1억 유로 투자 프로그램의 결과였습니다. 여기에는 12개의 자동화된 생산 라인, 100개가 넘는 산업용 로봇과 10,000개가 넘는 센서, 16개의 CNC 가공 센터가 포함되었습니다.

벤치마크 모델
의 '무인' 크레인으로, 레이저 스캐닝 장애물 회피, 3D 장면 생성, 충전 중 작업 기능, 흔들림 방지 호이스트, 100km당 19.5리터 연료 소비량에 해당하는 150kw/100km 전력 사용량, 230km의 내구성 범위를 갖추고 있습니다.

Zoomlion은 2021년에 12,000tm 용량의 세계 최대 타워 크레인을 출시했습니다. 이 타워 크레인은 450톤 용량의 플랫탑과 최대 후크 높이 400m를 갖추고 있습니다.

예상대로, 가장 큰 경쟁자인 XCMG가 15,000tm XGT 15000-600을 발표하며 적을 물리쳤습니다.

최대 리프팅 용량이 600톤이고 자립 높이가 92.5m인 이 크레인은 China Major Bridge Engineering Co.와 협력하여 개발되었습니다. 다른 대형 중국 타워 크레인과 마찬가지로 대형 모듈형 교량 건설을 위해 설계되었습니다. 연간 10,000대 이상의 타워 크레인을 생산하는 XCMG는 또한 50억 위안 이상의 매출로 타워 크레인 생산량 1위를 노리고 있습니다.

이 두 중국 기업이 2022년에도 주도권을 잡기 위해 경쟁하는 가운데, Zoomlion은 2,400톤 용량의 ZAT 24000H '전지형' 장비에 대한 오픈데이를 개최했습니다.

이런 측면에서 '모든 지형'이라는 용어를 사용하는 것은 정말 지나친 표현입니다. 그러나 Bauma China 2012에서 전시된 Zoomlion의 이전 소위 2,000톤 QAY 2000처럼, 이 새로운 모델이 중국 밖에서 햇빛을 보게 될지는 놀라운 일입니다! 그러나 중국산 대형 크롤러 크레인에 대해서는 마찬가지가 아닙니다. Sany와 Zoomlion의 가파른 가격 책정은 터키, 태국, 베트남, 인도, 러시아와 같이 다양한 시장에서 40~2,000톤 크롤러에 대한 문을 열었습니다.


https://www.cranestodaymagazine.com/analysis/origin-of-the-species-10346255/?cf-view

Origin of the species

Staff Writer November 17, 2022
Share this article
When the first issue of Cranes appeared in 1966 there was already a well-established crane industry. In those days much of the news carried by the magazine focussed on the large and diverse UK crane industry. Even though the US and many European countries also had well-established crane manufacturing companies and cranes were being sold and used all over the world, obtaining news of these activities in those days was a real challenge.

Since the 1930s crane hire (rental) had been well-established in the US and by the 1960s was fast-growing in the UK but much less-so in Europe. Since the turn of the century, earlier steam-powered cranes had given way to petrol (gasoline) and diesel-powered cranes mounted on crawler bases as well as rubber-tyred self-propelled chassis with increasingly sophisticated power transmissions. While most cranes relied upon mechanical transmissions some makers, such as Coles Cranes, Gottwald and others, preferred diesel electric systems.

The use of crawler undercarriages was pioneered by Bucyrus of the US with its type 14 dragline of 1911. It was 1914 when the first gasoline engine-powered excavator/crane was introduced by P&H with their Model 210. As diesel engines emerged, it would be 1932 when excavator/crane market-leader Lorain installed a Cat diesel. In 1934 Eisenwerk Rothe Erde introduced a ball-bearing slew ring as an advanced option to the hook-and-roller swing systems that were the industry norm. In 1941 Manitowoc introduced the 65-ton capacity 3900 as one of the first purpose-designed crawler cranes and in 1945 Lorain’s new TL series was the first with a completely welded upper works (rather than one employing castings and riveting).

Although Coles Cranes had been a pioneer with its first truck crane of 1922, across the Atlantic such developments also soared ahead in the hands of companies like Universal (later Lorain), Harnischfeger P&H, Bay City, and Orton & Steinbrenner.

The first tower cranes had been also developed in France by Jules Weitz and Grues Besnard and in Germany by Julius Wolff and Carl Peschke, and Peschke’s son Karl. These were small cranes, typically of one tonne capacity or less, and a reach of between 5 and 16 metres.

EARLY INFLUENCERS

American mechanical crane and excavator technology became dominant worldwide during the post-war building boom.

In addition to their sales and marketing efforts, which were far more advanced than those of Europe, US manufacturers spread their influence around the world by establishing joint-venture manufacturing or granting licenses in markets as far afield as Germany, France, Japan, India, Australia, Mexico, Canada and Brazil.

Though virtually every European country by then had its own crane and excavator manufacturing industry, US manufacturers continued unheeded to expand their European market presence. New licenses were established in Spain (Koehring – 1952), Germany (P&H – with Rheinstahl: 1955), France (Marion – 1960), and the UK (Unit – with Coles/Neals – 1960). In Italy, Link-Belt acquired the former O&K excavator plant in Milan in 1964, forming Link-Belt SpA.

Another company which had grown very strong though acquisitions, Koehring Company, acquired 40% of the UK’s Ransomes & Rapier forming NCKRapier in 1964 and two years later bought 70% of one of German’s oldest excavator/crane producers: Menck & Hambrock of Hamburg.

Even in the 1960s Chinese enterprises were already developing small tower cranes.

During the first half of the 20th century mobile cranes had grown ever-larger and more powerful. Before cranes achieved independent mobility, however, as early as the late 19th century, small tower cranes were at work in some of Europe’s leading cities. Amongst their builders were Carl Peschke and Julius Wolff, both of Germany. By 1927 they had been joined by Pekazette of Zweibrucken, Germany, and Carlo Ferro of Milan, Italy.

These early tower cranes were small bottom-slewers with offset luffing jibs and lifting capacities of between one and three tonnes and working radii of from five to 15 metres. As these small tower cranes were developed they quickly became a staple for house-builders across Europe and, in turn, created a new and dynamic manufacturing industry that especially took root in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland.

However, even as tower cranes proliferated across Europe their use in the UK was severely limited. This, in part, was due to the prevailing ‘not invented here’ attitude. Britain’s hand-built brick-and-mortar house building approach also played a role, as did the widely-used, locally-manufactured Scotch-derricks (or stiff-leg derricks) that had become a staple for long reach lifting in ports, quarries, dockyards and shipyards. The leading manufacturer was Butters Brothers of Glasgow which succeeded in selling thousands of these simple cranes throughout the British Empire and beyond.

Elsewhere, hydraulic crane development and demand continued around the world. Some traditional mechanical crane and excavators were drawn in.

Amongst the first was Bucyrus- Erie, the leading excavator maker which, in 1948, acquired a small local firm, Milwaukee Hydraulics, which had developed the world’s first telescopic truck-mounted cranes of two- to five-tonnes capacity. These cranes were mounted on two-axle commercial trucks and featured a threesection cantilevered telescopic 35 ft. (10.7m) boom.

Of the first Mechanical Handling Exhibition held at Crystal Palace, London, UK, in 1948 the August journal of Commercial Motor made the somewhat exaggerated boast, “during the past two years the mechanical handling industry has seen considerable expansion with the result that this country [UK] can now boast of equipment as good as any to be found in the world”. Exhibits included a one-tonne capacity Coles all-electric full-slew mobile crane and Jones mobile cranes with capacities of two and four tonnes.

Fifteen years later, in 1963, the dominant exhibit was a Coles Centurion lattice truck crane, rated 75 tons (100 US tons) at 12ft (3.66m) radius, heralded as the largest truck crane in the world.

ROUGH TERRAIN AND TOWER CRANE DEVELOPMENT

The first rough terrain cranes were developed during the mid-1950s. Austin-Western Co. developed the first five-tonne capacity rough terrain crane with the operator’s seat (no cab) located at the front, just ahead of the front axle and featuring 4×4 wheel steer and 4×4 wheel drive.

In 1957, Grove introduced its first rough terrain crane – this time with a capacity of 12t and with a cab mounted on the chassis to the side of the boom. Similarly telescopic truck-mounted cranes, of small capacity (one to three tonnes), would soon be developed in 1955 by Japan’s first telescopic crane manufacturers Tadano and Unic and, in 1958, by Kato.

American companies, primarily Austin-Western, Grove, Bucyrus- Erie and Drott, pioneered many of the early technical innovations and concepts in hydraulic crane development. Even so, as early as 1956, the UK’s F. Taylor & Sons (later part of Coles Cranes) and the British Hoist & Crane Co. (Iron Fairy) developed small pick-and-carry mobile telescopics.

By 1958 Coles Cranes had adopted diesel-electric transmissions as standard and offered a line of 15 models of up to 45t capacity available in self-propelled, truck-mounted and rail-mounted versions.

By the 1950s tower cranes had also developed in capacity and reach and the first saddlejib cranes using trolley-mounted hooks, from Potain, Linden, and others, were arriving to supersede the needle type cranes that had been the staple for some 50 years.

Considering all of the main varieties of crane, for the tower crane industry the late 1940s and early 1950s were the most tumultuous. Across Europe new manufacturers cropped up with breath taking regularity.

Soon after the end of the second world war, in 1945, Braud & Faucheux of Ancenis, in the Loire region of France, developed their first small ‘tower’ crane. Its designer was killed during the liberation of Ancenis leaving the company to be managed for many years by his widow. In 1949 Hans Liebherr had built his first, and the world’s first self-erecting crane, the TK 10, and by 1952 new tower crane businesses had been started in the shape of Cadillon, Konig, Ferro, Boilot, Hilgers, Simma, Reich, Pekazette, Schwing, and, in Finland, Betox.

By the mid-1950s small tower cranes were increasingly used in residential construction in mainland Europe and manufacturers began to focus on particular size and type categories.

THE 1950S AND 1960S

During the 1950s the development of the purpose-built crane carrier chassis had revolutionised lattice truck crane development and soon, larger size telescopic truck cranes (on crane carrier chassis) were also being built.

Specialist vehicle manufacturers Faun and Atkinson were joined, in 1963, by Foden which brought enhanced levels of quality and sophistication to the crane industry. By that time lattice boom cranes had reached an advanced level of technical maturity. Meanwhile, during the 1960s, the number of US manufacturers of telescopic cranes grew with well-over 20 firms entering to industry including Pettibone (1961), Galion (1963), Lorain and Shield Bantam (1967), P&H (1968) and Link-Belt (1969).

GAME CHANGER

The world’s first 25 ton tele truck crane was introduced by Grove in 1964, followed in 1966 by the first 30-tonner from Pettibone, the first 45-tonner from Grove also in 1966, a 50-ton Pettibone in 1967, a 65-tonner from P&H in 1969 and the 80-ton Grove TM 800 in 1970. In particular the TM 800 was a real game-changer, featuring the patented Trapezoidal boom.

Meanwhile, in In Japan, Kato introduced a 32-tonne truck crane in 1967 and, in 1969, the NK75 – a 75-tonne capacity truck crane mounted on a four-axle Mitsubishi Fuso carrier and with a 43m four-section full power boom – claimed to be the longest in the world.

In Germany Demag introduced its rounded ‘Ovaloid’ boom in 1970 and, in 1975, introduced the world’s largest tele boom crane in the shape of the 140-tonne capacity HC 500.

As had been the case pre-war, the European crane market of the 1960s remained dominated by small mechanical crawler and increasingly truck-mounted excavator/cranes of nine to 15 tonnes capacity. Industry leader was UK-based Ruston-Bucyrus (R-B) which produced as many as 1,800 units per year and ultimately 10,246 between 1950 and 1985.

R-B was the UK affiliate of Bucyrus-Erie and by-far Europe’s largest manufacturer of these machines which were offered with a variety of ‘front-end’ attachments ranging from lift crane to dragline, clamshell/ grab, backhoe, face shovel and piledriver. In this business other long-established major British players included NCK-Ransoms & Rapier, Thos. Smith & Sons (Rodley) Ltd., Priestman Brothers Ltd., John Allen & Sons (Oxford) Ltd., Babcock-Marion and Jones Cranes Ltd. Across the channel, markets were served by the likes of Demag, Menck, Gottwald of Germany, Fiorentini of Milan, and Pinguely and Nordest of France.

During these post-war years there was a serious shortage of cranes of all types with construction work and especially building construction often still dependent on manual labour operation from scaffolding.

Almost all of these machines were initially designed and manufactured to be tough and reliable to withstand the rigours of arduous excavating work. Machine weight was rarely a consideration. Indeed, it was not until much later, typically the late 1960s, that the first crawler-mounted machines were specifically designed to optimise their crane lifting performance. It was only by then that some companies began to focus on the use of lighter steels to optimise lifting capacity and reach. Since the 1800s crane and excavator controls were long mechanical levers and foot pedals demanding significant exertion.

Indeed, it was the 1960s, and especially 1970s, before power-assisted controls became the norm.

In central Europe, in countries like France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, small self-erecting tower cranes replaced mobile cranes as the preferred type for residential construction. By the 1970s new manufacturers had emerged in the markets they served.

France’s Potain and Germany’s Liebherr had reinforced their market leading positions but were joined in competition by dozens of local manufacturers. By the mid-1970s a thriving tower crane industry had developed in Italy, joined by likes of Conedil, Simma, Trojsi, FM Gru, Fergru, Alfa, and Fergru.

In rough terrains, Pettibone set the pace with the first 15-tonner in 1961, leaping to the first 35-tonner in 1965 and first 40-tonner in 1969. All of these were cab-down cranes. In the US Sargent introduced the world’s first swing cab rough terrain in 1967 with an 18-ton model. It was followed in 1968 by Grove with a 25-tonner.

Even though the lifting capacity and reach of these early hydraulic cranes was very limited and their reliability unproven, by virtue of their operating speeds and relative ease of use, they met with immediate market demand and sales growth was dramatic.

During the late 1960s the output of the US industry telescopic cranes grew rapidly – from 2,000 in 1967, to 2,400 in 1968, to 3,700 in 1969 – with approximately 55% being rough terrains, 10% Industrial cranes, and 35% truck cranes. By then approximately 20-25% of US production was for export, mainly to Europe.

DEVELOPING MARKETS

In the early 1960s Japan remained a market dominated by lattice boom cranes – especially crawlers. Under a series of license agreements the Japanese had been afforded access to US technology with deals struck between Kobelco and P&H, Sumitomo and Link-Belt, Yutani and Northwest, and IHI and Koehring.

They joined Hitachi’s own-designed products and, by the mid-1960s, the Japanese industry was producing nearly 2,000 lattice cranes. 85% of these were crawlers. During the second half of the 1960s Japanese demand for lattice cranes grew to nearly 3,000 units with 30% now being truck cranes of up to 150 tonnes capacity. By this time, however, domestic Japanese demand for telescopic truck cranes had begun to develop and, from being almost non-existent in 1965, had grown to 1,500 units in 1970.

At that time, the rough terrain crane was unknown in Japan – Tadano developing Japan’s very first rough terrain in 1970. Also, as the decade drew to a close, Japan’s hydraulic crane makers were only just beginning to explore overseas markets for their cranes.

In the 1960s, like Japan, Europe was also a market where truck cranes and roadable pick-and-carry industrial cranes were popular. UK producers dominated European production with their total mobile crane output rising to approximately 500 units in 1969. There were also numerous new manufacturers of telescopic cranes in Germany, Italy, France and elsewhere. The Italian Industry grew dramatically with almost 100 manufacturers. The leader, Ormig produced no less than 5,000 of its best-selling 75M pick-and-carry model.

Tower cranes had also developed and become suitable for hi-rise and industrial construction. The predominant types were bottom-slewing cranes with saddle jibs being used as the primary building construction tool across central and west Europe.

During the five years to 1969 alone, some 7,800 US crawler cranes were sold in North America, with 5,400 being very small machines of up to 45 US ton (41 tonne) capacity. While truck cranes were generally of limited lifting capacity due primarily to the strength limitations of vehicles of the day, development continued.

In 1965 Germany’s Demag introduced its own 100-tonne lattice truck crane in the shape of their TC 400. While crawlers were favoured by contractors crane hirers preferred the mobility of the truck crane.

In addition to the various ‘mobile’ telescopic cranes (rough terrains, truck cranes and industrials) some of the early manufacturers of small truck-mounted telescopic concentrated their efforts on this ‘small’ end of the market, developing today’s boom truck industry. Amongst these were Pitman (RO), National Crane (previously Burg) and such companies as the Hiab in Sweden, and Unic in Japan.

As the 1960s drew to a close, the hydraulic mobile crane industry (excluding the manufacturers of small truck-mounted cranes) comprised some 70 manufacturers producing a total of about 6,300 cranes per year.

In an effort to solve housing shortages in the UK and Europe, during the 1960s modular house-building systems, often based on Scandinavian and German designs, grew in popularity across Europe and the UK. This fostered a demand for small tower cranes and led to crawler-mounted tower cranes produced by Liebherr, Munster and others being widely employed by British building contractors.

In 1954 Liebherr established a plant in Bischofshofen, Austria, where its smaller tower cranes would be built and then, in 1960, opened a major plant in Biberach- Ris which would become its primary tower crane plant.

As early as 1965 Liebherr Werk Biberach began producing truck-mounted lattice boom strut jib and tower cranes of the AUK Series. Eventually the series extended to 13 models – all available as tower cranes. In 1969 production of these cranes was transferred to the new Liebherr-Werk Ehingen factory where the 125-tonne capacity AUK 220 and 79 of the small AUK 40T-60 were produced.

During the mid-1960s as buildings and industrial facilities grew ever-taller, large American lattice boom truck and crawler cranes were developed into tower configurations. In particular Manitowoc’s 150-ton 4000W crawler and, starting in 1963, Lorain’s larger-sized truck-mounted Moto-tower cranes of 50 to 150-ton capacity became rental favourites.

While these proved particularly popular in North America, European tower cranes had failed to make a breakthrough – mainly due to lack of local support and concerns over their electrics. Even so, in 1961, Harnischfeger P&H struck a deal with Liebherr to handle the North American marketing of large tower cranes produced in Liebherr’s plant in Killarney, Ireland. It didn’t work.

In 1961 the Killarney plant had opened as Liebherr’s first overseas plant, to make tower cranes, quickly followed by a plant in Spring, South Africa, also making tower cranes.

Across Europe, however, Coles found significant success amongst crane hirers with tower versions of its larger-sized Ranger, Zealous, Valiant, Gargantua, Centurion and Colossus truck models of 30-to 170-tonnes capacity, while Demag and Gottwald developed luffing jib models of their larger truck cranes.

In 1972 Priestman Brothers took a misjudged stab at the UK pre-fab market with a tower version of its 32-tonne BC 72 crawler crane which proved too small for the market.

Technical limitations in hydraulic and automotive components severely limited hydraulic crane development throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, thus prolonging the life of mechanical lattice boom truck and crawler cranes. In fact, during the late 1960s sales of lattice crane worldwide continued to grow – reaching 12,000-15,000 a year. At that time telescopic boom cranes were still limited in capacity and reach. During the late 1960s, Germany’s leading lattice truck crane manufacturers were already producing 300-tonne capacity cranes and developing 500-tonners. The lifting performance and length of lattice booms had been significantly improved with the development by US Steel of T-1 alloy steel in the early 1950s.

Using T-1 US manufacturers, particularly Manitowoc and American Hoist, introduced 200 ton crawler cranes during the late 1960s. By the late 1960s, German’s Gottwald was building 300-tonne capacity truck cranes available with strut or tower configurations.

From the early years the US lattice boom crane and excavator industry had been quick to exploit overseas market opportunities and to capitalise on this. They, and several UK crane makers, established joint-venture manufacturing subsidiaries or licensed manufacturing operations overseas. From the 1930s onward they established manufacturing operations around the world – often in countries protected by tariff barriers and import controls, or with limited foreign currency availability.

TELESCOPIC CRANES

Starting in the 1950s Japan had rapidly taken to the telescopic truck crane concept, creating strong domestic demand dominated by three suppliers: Tadano, Kato and Unic.

In that regard these manufacturers produced only ‘the crane’ soliciting the vital support of the country’s strengthening truck industry to provide its vehicle. The first purpose-designed crane carrier chassis were built by Mitsubishi Fuso and Nissan in 1960 and 1961 respectively and during the mid-1960s Kato. Tadano then added carrier-mounted truck cranes to their (commercial) truck-mounted crane lines. In 1969, Japanese domestic demand for (carrier-mounted) truck cranes quadrupled to 1,100 units and, in 1970, hit 1,500.

Mitsubishi and Nissan were the first large-scale commercial truck builders to produce specialist crane carrier chassis. At that time, only a few of the world’s crane makers produced their own carriers – Coles of the UK and P&H of the US being notable exceptions

In the US with many more manufacturers fighting for market share, Grove, Pettibone and P&H became the leaders whilst, in Europe, Coles Cranes was by far the strongest supplier.

In Europe the struggle for the world’s tallest mobile crane was won, hands down by Leo Gottwald of Dusseldorf with its 400-tonne capacity MK 600 introduced in 1968. A mobile (rather than truck-mounted) crane on eight-axles, the MK 600 offered boom lengths to 100m or tower lengths to 83m plus a 75m luffing jib for maximum heights of 160m.

During the 1970s, telescopic cranes gradually took over as the preferred type of mobile crane in the small-medium capacity classes (10-100-tons).

In Germany Leo Gottwald established market leadership with its well-engineered lattice and telescopic boom truck cranes. In 1966 Gottwald introduced its 18-tonne capacity AMK 45-21 two-axle telescopic which would later be recognised as a pioneer of all terrain cranes.

Having at first scorned the potential of the hydraulic crane as a passing fancy, many of the large and well-established mechanical/ lattice boom crane manufacturers belatedly began to develop their own telescopics, as sales of small to medium size lattice cranes steadily declined. However, since demand for large-size lattice cranes increased the leading lattice crane manufacturers focussed on the development of the upper-end of their product ranges rather than on the telescopic developments.

In 1975 Gottwald took the crown with the world’s largest telescopic with their 140-tonne AMK 155-53 – the first units being purchased by Scotts of the UK and Sarens of Belgium. Although a relatively small company Gottwald established itself for its outstanding design and engineering capabilities. In 1978 the company again topped the industry with its 200-tonne capacity AMK 200-103 tele truck crane.

American Hoist and Manitowoc dominated worldwide demand for large size lattice cranes and from 1970 to 1975 American’s sales of over 100 tons capacity increased from $20m to $84m (including large offshore barge and ship-mounted cranes).

By the mid-1970s the number of hydraulic crane manufacturers grew to an estimated 140 companies manufactured in 25 countries. The pace and volume of new product development increased with the ever-broadening number of competitive suppliers. Although many had considered the telescopic crane fundamentally limited in terms of reach and capacity, the first 100-ton truck crane (Grove TM 1075) was introduced in 1974 and the following year the first 52.7m telescopic boom was introduced again by Grove on the 125-ton (113-tonne) TM 1275 truck crane.

BLACK GOLD

The opening up of the Prudhoe Bay oil field and subsequent construction of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline during the early 1970s was the first major petrochemical project to employ over 100 hydraulic cranes. It would not be the last. Thanks to the efforts of the Grove/Caterpillar pipeline distributor – Fabbick Tractor of St Louis, MO, and Grove distributor Gleason Cranes of Chicago, the vast majority of the 200 cranes employed on this challenging project were Groves.

Larger-size swing cab rough terrain cranes of 50-tons (1975) and 80-tons (1978) capacity were pioneered by Grove and became viable alternatives to crawler cranes on unmade construction sizes, further broadening the application potential of the telescopic crane.

As the 1970s drew to a close Germany’s manufacturers began to fully exercise their engineering talent, introducing 150-200-tonne capacity telescopic truck cranes as well as truck cranes with better off-road travel performance which would, a few years later, be renamed all terrain cranes.

During the early 1970s North American market demand for telescopics continued to grow, reaching over 4,000 units in 1974 and 1975 – with about two-thirds of these being (mainly small) rough terrains, one-quarter truck cranes, and the remainder industrials.

Meanwhile in West Europe crane demand was strong during the early 1970s before softening markedly in 1974 and remaining relatively weak for most of the rest of the decade.

However, Europe’s fast-expanding number of telescopic crane manufacturers and their broadening range of types and sizes provided attractive openings both to replace lattice cranes and to exploit export opportunities.

By this time the Comecon countries of Eastern Europe were generating significant demand for cranes. Coles, Grove and P&H were amongst the most successful players in this region. The USSR also placed very large orders for telescopic truck cranes with Kato winning orders for over 2,000 cranes in the mid-1970s. China was also emerging as a significant market, served primarily by Kato and Tadano of Japan and Coles of the UK. Another communist country, Cuba, bought over 1,000 cranes during the mid-1970s mainly from Kato and Coles.

In 1972 Grove acquired a majority holding in John Allen Ltd of Oxford, the company they had licensed to market and mount its crane uppers on Allen-designed European truck carriers. However, the move that caused the greatest ripples occurred in 1975 when Clark Equipment Company and Richards & Wallington of the UK, the world’s largest crane rental company, each invested 45% of the equity in a new British crane manufacturing company named Crown Cranes, staffed notoriously by ex-Coles executives. This bold initiative however ran out of steam and into receivership within two-years.

The first oil price shock of late 1973 created a dramatic increase in crane demand from the OPEC countries, contributing significantly to a major increase in world demand. Very quickly these countries became major crane markets as they raced to develop modern industrial and urban infrastructures with their new-found wealth.

These markets really took off in 1975 and US crane makers were the first into them, augmented by through their existing ties with the oil companies. Grove proceeded to win a 250-plus rough terrain crane order from Saudi Arabia’s Aramco in 1975 (again with the invaluable participation of Bob Gleason).

Indeed the oil boom that spread through all of the OPEC countries during the mid-1970s created a huge new market for the world’s crane makers.

Through the 1970s demand for cranes continued to increase, reaching some 2,500 large telescopic cranes shipped to the oil-producing countries of the Middle East and Africa. Though Europe’s crane makers did quite well, it was American rough terrains and Japanese truck cranes which won the lion’s share of demand.

Demand in Iran soared taking 400 hydraulic cranes in 1976, followed by Saudi Arabia with some 250, and Iraq with 280.

In total that year some 850 tele truck cranes and almost 600 rough terrains were sold in the Middle East and North and West Africa. Business in these markets was also strong for the lattice crane builders with almost 600 of mainly US-built crawler cranes as well as a similar volume of large tower cranes supplied to the region – led by Liebherr and Potain. P&H seemed to have greatly benefitted from its deep ties and investment in Iran until 1979 with the overthrow of the Shah, they suffered huge losses. By the early 1980s crane demand in these markets had contracted markedly.

LATE SEVENTIES

The domestic demand in North America rose to peak levels in 1978 and 1979 returning to the 4,000-unit level. At the same time, Japanese domestic demand reached new heights of 2,500 telescopics as the decade came to a close.

Europe was a different story. From a peak of over 4,000 telescopics sold in 1974, demand fell steadily to about 3,000 units in 1978/79. However, demand in Germany strengthened during these years in contrast to that in the UK and France. With numerous local manufacturers active in each of the large European markets, as well as all of the major US and Japanese manufacturers, something had to give. The UK crane industry was hardest hit with manufacturers such as Hydrocon, Cosmos and Smith going out of business and Coles and Jones closing some plants. In France, Italy and Germany there were also limited casualties and product changes, too. During the 1970s, Japan’s crane makers began adding rough terrain cranes to their lines and in the late 1970s, manufacturers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe introduced the first all terrain cranes.

Telescopic crane demand peaked in 1977 and 1979, at around the 14,000-unit level, as demand for lattice cranes became more and more limited to the larger-size classes where telescopics were not yet fully developed.

By the mid-late 1970s Japan became the world’s largest market for telescopic truck cranes and the world’s largest supplier. 1991 was the best year to date for Japan’s mobile crane makers. Kato sold around 3,500 cranes (of over five-tonnes capacity) and had revenues of about Y104 billion ($810m), while Tadano notched up sales of Y142,6 billion ($1.01 billion).

At the same time the Japanese had developed new hydraulic lattice boom designs, ditching the original mechanical crane technology they had licensed from the Americans.

These cleaner, quieter cranes were easier to operate and soon found ready markets not just at home but around the world just as the originators back in the US went out of business, stuck with outdated technology.

ROAD REGULATIONS

During the 1970s and 1980s enforcement of European road regulations became stricter, demanding lower road-weights and smaller dimensions. This challenged all manufacturers but especially the US companies to modify truck cranes into compliance. Fortunately, Europe was well served with local manufacturers of crane carrier truck chassis, most notably Faun, Mol, Foden and CVS.

Using these as a base for their cranes became an established and easy way for American and Japanese crane makers to comply with European road regulations. Meeting stringent road regulations became a key factor in achieving European truck crane sales. At the upper end of size classes, the use of Faun carriers became a critical factor. At that time Mannesmann- Demag employed Faun carriers on its large cranes including the very-successful 250-tonne TC 1200 lattice introduced in 1973.

The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the market recognise the benefits of large crawler cranes of 250 to 800-tonnes capacity over lattice truck cranes of similar size. This especially benefitted the new Demag which found a ready market in the USSR where 11 300-tonne CC 2000s and 7 800-tonne CC 4000s were purchased for nuclear power plant construction.

Rough terrains had largely failed to catch-on in Europe which looked to develop the more versatile, all terrain cranes and which leant themselves to crane hire (rental) application. Accordingly, Europe became the industry’s battleground contested by about 100 manufacturers from around the world.

1981: THE PIVOTAL YEAR

While most of Europe started the 1980s in recession, demand remained very strong in North America, Japan, Asia and Latin America and was again growing in Africa and the Middle East.

During the heady days of 1980, the world’s crane and construction machinery manufacturers prepared for the upcoming Conexpo ’81 to be held in Houston, Texas. Grove dominated the show with a giant outdoor display which featured no less than 70 cranes and aerial lifts and introduced the new TM 2500 telescopic truck crane at 250-tons capacity, the world’s largest.

Also in the Houston Astrodome, P&H displayed it’s innovate new Alpha 100, 100-ton light-weight truck crane. The show was a spectacular success but within 30 days of its closing, the US economy plunged into what would become the deepest recession since the 1930s. By 1982, US domestic mobile crane demand had fallen by 80% of 1991 levels.

The 1980s also saw Tadano, Kato and Komatsu introducing their new rough terrains to the North American market. The mid-1980s had seen the first entry into the US market of the Japanese telescopic crane makers – Tadano, Kato and (briefly) Komatsu.

By this time, the Japanese crane industry had developed a hybrid variety of the rough terrain crane, which offered limited road travel performance sufficient for domestic Japanese demand to begin to switch from truck cranes to these new rough terrains. However, attempts to export this new variety of rough terrain had, at best, mixed results and only Tadano persisted in its North American marketing efforts with a more conventional rough terrain crane concept.

By the mid-1970s the ‘new’ markets of SE Asia including Singapore were being approached by Potain. Alimak, the Swedish hoist manufacturer, having acquired the rights to Sweden’s Linden Cranes in 1973, introduced the ground-breaking 8000 series of super-large flat top tower cranes in 1974.

At the same time Demag introduced its 800-ton capacity lattice truck crane while Liebherr also introduced its new 200-tonne telescopic truck crane which would go on to significantly outsell the big Grove TM, a harbinger of things to come in the heavy lift segment of the market.

The US economy was drawn into recession by the continuing oil crisis, political uncertainty over Iran, and record high interest rates which proved a double-edged sword for US capital goods manufacturers – diminishing domestic capital investment at the same time as making US exports very expensive. Even worse, the artificially low foreign exchange value of the Japanese Yen made their products very cheap to US buyers causing, for the first time, a flood of construction machinery imports from the Far East.

This economic turmoil had the effect of bringing about major structural changes in the world’s crane and construction machinery industries. It would cause many in the US to feel that the days of America leading the world as a machinery supplier were over – that the steel and heavy industry of the future could only thrive in the Far East.

Domestic US lattice crane makers, already hurt from a decade of technological change to hydraulics, found themselves with no remaining markets and some 17 of 22 US lattice crane plants were closed from 1981 to 1985. Similarly, between 1981 and 1985 ten US manufacturers of telescopic cranes went out of business, unable to keep pace with the rapid technical developments. As the US recession and high dollar dragged on, US manufacturers moved production overseas. P&H closed its US plants and transferred production to Kobe Steel, its Japanese licensee. In 1984, Grove acquired Coles Cranes Ltd. of the UK out of receivership. Similarly recessions in France, Italy and Scandinavia saw numerous crane manufacturers close their doors.

In 1981 Maschinoimport of the USSR ordered 333 Liebherr truck and all terrain cranes, plus some 30 big Demags. The truck-mounted cranes were specified with cold-weather protection for -40C.

Two further orders for some 40 large Liebherr cranes followed in 1983. During these years Liebherr placed increasing emphasis on its growing line of all terrains and, in 1987, introduced the 800t capacity LTM 1800.

During the 1970s and 1980s Mannesmann-Demag strengthened its position as leader in the market for high-capacity lattice cranes. In 1980 the company had set a new benchmark with its 800-tonne CC 4000 – soon surpassed by their CC 4800, and then, in 1996, by the 1600-tonne CC 12600. As global demand for super-heavy crawler cranes expanded, in 2001 Demag added the 1250-tonne CC 8800 which matured into the 1,600-tonne capacity CC 8800-1 and was then ‘literally’ doubled with the 2008 introduction of the CC 8800-1 TWIN.

However, no discussion of large crawler cranes could be complete without mention of the Lampson Transi-Lift.

Originally designed by Neil F. Lampson in 1974 over the last 40- plus years Transi-Lifts have grown in size to 3,000 tons capacity.

New competition in this size class comes from the 3,000-tonne capacity Liebherr LR 13000. This monster is the largest crane available on ‘conventional’ twin crawlers (as opposed to the two-sets of four crawlers of the Demag CC 8800-1 ‘TWIN’. With 4-5 LR 13000s already in service this crane – as well as its newly-announced 2,500-tonne LR 12500- 1.0 – seeks to build on Liebherr’s already dominant position in the heavy crawler crane league with its 1,000-tonne LR 11000 and 1,350-tonne LR 13500.

Further emphasising its technology in 1989 Liebherr unveiled its LICCON system for monitoring and controlling its mobile cranes. In 1990 the German economy was picking-up and Liebherr was awarded a contract for no less than 459 all terrain cranes from the German military.

Markets for tower cranes across the world opened up during the 1970s and 1980s.

In the early 1980s a new ‘variety’ – the City Crane emerged. This concept was quickly adopted by most European makers. They were distinguished by towers (masts) of reduced cross-section dimensions and their appeal was related to the congestion of urban construction sites where accidents due to collisions were becoming a serious issue.

On the self-erecting crane front, manufacturers were increasingly adopting hydraulic drives. By the 1990s the size and capacity of self-erectors had increased substantially. The largest cranes now offered 100 tonne-metres load moment or more and reaches extending past 50m and hook heights exceeding 40m. Able to handle work previously the domain of standard saddle jib cranes these versatile cranes continued to extend their applications and demand.

At Bauma ’98 Liebherr again extended its technical talents with the introduction of ‘Litronic’ – a frequency converter crane control and management system which has initially made standard on its larger top-slewing tower cranes and subsequently proliferated across the Liebherr crane lines.

That year’s show was dominated by the introduction of Liebherr’s largest telescopic to date – the 500-tonne capacity LTM 1500-8.1. This eight-axle crane would go on to become the best-selling large mobile crane of all time with 626 units sold until the end of 2021 when it was discontinued and superseded by the 650-tonne LTM 1650-8.1.

In 2001, when Ameco won the project to extend the Syncrude oil sands plant in Western Canada, it ordered 100 Terex machines. Clearly, oil has always primed the crane industry’s pump.

Even as demand and sales soared, the Japanese were constrained by component shortages, stretching delivery times to six-months and longer.

By then Kato’s production was 60% rough terrains and nearly 40% truck cranes. Unlike Europe, all terrains featured marginally in Japanese mobile crane production. Nevertheless, the Japanese were able to tap into the fast-growing markets of Asia and SE Asia. As demand had stabilised and then declined in the Middle East, the markets of the Pacific Rim and ultimately China compensated.

But this growing demand was not simply in the traditional 15-to-50-tonne classes but also for so-called ‘mini cranes’. These were the small rough terrains and tele boom crawler cranes of up to 4.9-tonnes capacity which proved perfectly suited to Japan’s congested urban infrastructure.

On the other side of the world, crane makers were preoccupied with local issues. The all terrain crane started to become a significant factor during the late 1970s and early 1980s and, by the mid-1980s, it had replaced the truck crane as the preferred crane hire tool throughout most of mainland Europe.

The German manufactures also made their first tentative steps into the North American and Japanese markets. Of particular importance in these new market entries were the larger capacity telescopic truck and all terrain cranes of 80 to 300 tonnes capacity.

By this time, both the American and Japanese crane industries had lost their early leadership in the design of competitive large size telescopic cranes.

In 1978 Gottwald again upped the ante with the 200-tonne AMK 200-103 tele truck crane, only to re-double its challenge with the 400-tonne AMK 400-93. While the 200-tonner was a significant success, only a handful of 400-tonners were sold.

DEEP RECESSION

The ravages of the deep and long recession of the 1980s took a severe toll on the crane and construction equipment manufacturing industries of the US and Europe, burdened by massive over-capacity.

By the late 1970s there were about 150 manufacturers of mobile cranes in the world with upwards of 75% of these based in North America and Europe. From 1982 through 1987, about one third of the companies ceased crane manufacture and every other manufacturer in the industry either made dramatic cutbacks or closed some of their plants. During this period the Japanese intensified their export efforts in order to maintain employment.

The relative strength of the dollar made US exports expensive and imports cheap, opening the market to the Japanese and German machines, as well as making US cranes too expensive in export markets. This double-edged sword closed down much of the US industry, stifling new product development investments in the US and eroding the US industry’s hard-earned share of the depressed world market. So harsh was the downturn in US crane production and so daunting a challenge to compensate for the strength of the dollar that America’s leading crane makers were driven to survival strategies.

In 1983, Harnischfeger P&H decided to close its US factories and made an agreement to transfer all of its mobile crane production to its Japanese licensee partner, Kobe Steel (Kobelco) or to its subsidiary in Germany. In 1982, Kidde Inc., declared its subsidiary, market leading Grove Manufacturing, a discontinued operation but later decided to retain it and, in 1984, acquired one of Europe’s leading manufacturers – Coles Cranes of the UK, whose parent Acrow had taken the group into receivership. In 1986, FMC Corporation sold its Link-Belt subsidiary to its Japanese licensee partner, Sumitomo Heavy Industries.

In 1987 the French Legris industrial group acquired control of Potain. As the market recovered in the late 1980s, the number of participants had reduced and the Japanese industry had grown to be the most powerful in the world. 1990 saw Tadano make the first ever European crane industry acquisition (Faun) by a Japanese company. Several major Japanese construction equipment manufacturers – Kobelco, Hitachi and Komatsu – established new excavator manufacturing plants in the US, thus providing a bridgehead for later entry into the crane market.

With Liebherr established as the all terrain market leader, in 1988 they unveiled the 400-tonne LTM 1400 which became a best seller. That year Krupp acquired the rights to pioneering Gottwald’s lines of truck and all terrains. The following year Krupp introduced their ‘Megatrack’ independent wheel suspension for their growing line of all terrains.

When the downturn in the Japanese economy began in 1992, it was not seen as some cataclysmic event and most Japanese manufacturers carried on in anticipation of a near-term recovery. Obviously, this did not happen and year-upon-year what is now by far the longest recession in modern Japanese history has worn down the domestic industry. As always, however, Japan has managed to keep a near strangle hold on its domestic market. The earlier threat of German imports having been cooled by the development of Japanese all terrains which, though too heavy for export, had met with approval at home.

By the late 1980s the days of the truck crane in Europe were numbered. Manufacturer by manufacturer, domestic European production of truck cranes diminished leaving only reduced sales of Japanese truck cranes in the 25- to 50-tonne classes. Meanwhile hydraulic lattice boom truck and crawler cranes had grown in capacity with Demag emerging as market leader with crawlers.

The ever-present demand for improved load handling precision was a factor in all varieties of construction cranes. This was especially the case as tower cranes inexorably grew in height, reach, and capacity. As early as 1966 Potain followed the example of leading mobile crane makers in making electronic crane controls standard. During the early 1990s the European tower crane industry gradually adopted various types of frequency control systems – at first applied to individual crane functions and then to entire crane systems.

From 1992 until 1999, the American market enjoyed eight years of expansion – the longest in history and the US crane industry returned strongly to health.

In 1995, Grove acquired Germany’s Krupp in another attempt to regain its former strength in Europe as well as to access the German prowess in all terrains and large-size telescopic crane technology. By then Grove’s other European ‘possession’, the former Coles Cranes business in the UK, had continued its downward slide and in 1998, when its former British owners, Hanson, sold Grove, it was politically acceptable to close the last remnants of Coles UK operations.

NEW PLAYER

The 1990s also saw the rise of a new power in the mobile crane industry – Terex Corporation of Westport, Connecticut, USA.

In 1987, Terex had acquired Koehring – Lorain’s weakened operations in Waverly, Iowa, but it wasn’t until 1992 when a new CEO, Fil Filipov, was recruited that it began to show signs of life. In 1994 Terex acquired PPM, the leading French crane manufacturer which had acquired the Bendini SpA of Italy in 1988 and then the Century II-P&H operations in the US and Germany in 1991.

With this critical mass, Terex slashed operating costs to the bone, rationalised its product line and adopted the most aggressive pricing and marketing policy the industry had ever seen. With prices 20% or more below the competition Terex began to win market share and, by 1997, had become North American market leader. Terex then proceeded to expand into the crawler crane business with the acquisition of American Crane and into the tower crane business with the purchase of Peiner in Germany and Comedil in Italy.

The competition had been slow to react and by the time the old market leader Grove had woken up it was too late to recover. Having been sold by Hanson to Keystone, a US financial investor in 1998, for the high price of over $600million, the following year Grove plunged into losses.

While it’s German (ex-Krupp) operations continued to perform well in a healthy all terrain crane market, Grove’s core US operations were bleeding badly. In 2001, Grove sought protection under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code but within months a reorganization plan under which Grove’s primary creditors, Chase Manhattan Bank, became majority owner was accepted by the courts.

The 1990s were a challenging decade for Europe’s tower crane industry. In 1993 France was in deep recession and, in 1995, the German economy drifted into a downturn. Things improved in 1997 with Potain’s sales increasing 14% to FF57 billion.

In 1998 Potain acquired the emerging German manufacturer BKT, bringing topless and luffing boom tower cranes to the French company’s line. Potain’s crane sales increased from 2,100 in 1998 to 2,600 in 1999. By 2000 over some three years Potain had renewed some 80% of its crane line.

Meanwhile in Europe, as worldwide demand for all terrains had gone from strength to strength, Liebherr reinforced its leadership of this important sector. In 2001 the firm opened a massive extension to its Ehingen factory – enough to increase capacity from 800 to 1400 new all terrains per years.

Even so, during the late-1990s and early 2000s the leading German manufacturers continued to exert their technical prowess. In 1996 Liebherr introduced its oval-shaped ‘Oviform’ boom with its single tele cylinder ‘Telematik’ extension system that would become a hallmark of all Liebherr telescopics for decades to come.

A year later Mannesmann Demag introduced another groundbreaking new design, the first ‘City’ type compact all terrain: the 25-tonne AC 75. It was soon followed by the three-axle the 40-tonne AC 40-1 which went on to sell more than a thousand units.

In 2001 Demag followed up with the Sideways Superlift (SSL) that would revolutionise the lifting performance of large-sized telescopics. This led to a patent dispute with Liebherr over their ‘Y Guy’ which was subsequently settled out of court.

GLOBAL ALLIANCE

In 2001, the Japanese crane manufacturers, Tadano, Sumitomo and Hitachi formed a global alliance. Though this revolved primarily around lattice boom mobile cranes it also involved the hydraulic mobile crane businesses of Tadano in Japan, Tadano-Faun in Germany and Link-Belt in the US.

In March 2002 it was announced that the Sumitomo and Hitachi crane businesses would merge. The following year a supply agreement for Kobelco crawler cranes to Manitowoc was announced. This proved highly successful and was only terminated in 2018.

Following Keystone’s failure to turnaround Grove, it sold the business for $270 million in March 2002 to the leading US lattice boom crane manufacturer Manitowoc who the previous year had acquired the leading French tower crane manufacturer, Potain.

Changes in the ownership of Mannesmann saw the Demag crane business become an unwanted division of Siemens- Bosch and the acquisition of Grove with its German (ex-Krupp) unit by Manitowoc polarised the industry. In May 2002, Siemens agreed to sell the Demag mobile crane business to Terex for $150 million.

Beginning in the mid-2000s the crane world found itself exposed to the first rumblings of an offensive from the emerging Chinese crane industry. This should not have come as a shock to experienced executives as many had already seen limited access to the Chinese. The first Chinese truck cranes from XCMG and Zoomlion and tower cranes from Yongmao and Zoomlion arrived courtesy of Dutch crane traders and were notable for inflated claims and low prices. Unfortunately some rather naïve European crane buyers were sucked in by the apparently attractive offers and soon found themselves with products with, at-best, scant service support.

TOWER POWER

By the mid-2010s, construction methods of the leading nations of SE Asia were strongly evolving to PVVC (Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction) with the motive of improving safety and productivity in building construction by using pre-cast concrete elements of up to 40-tonnes weight.

Naturally this drove demand for significantly larger tower cranes. As well as Potain and Liebherr, Yongmao was a beneficiary – especially in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

New luffing boom cranes of 20 to 25-tonnes capacity and flat tops of 40, 50 and 60 tonnes capacity quickly emerged and proved very popular. For local rental companies, their rates were under pressure from the growing challenge of low-cost Chinese tower cranes. Business also remained healthy in the region’s petro-chem, oil and gas and offshore industries which continued to employ large crawler and all terrain cranes from the leading crane hirers.

Developments in self-erecting tower cranes included the broadening use of trolley-hoists that can ride up and down steep jib angles.

TEREX AND LOAD KING

In 2010 Manitex International acquired trailer manufacturer Load King from Terex and in 2015 the business was acquired by Custom Truck One Source.

In mid-2016 Terex announced it would close its mobile crane and boom truck plant in Waverly, Iowa, and transfer production to the Terex plant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 2019 Terex sold its truck crane and boom truck product lines to Load King. The former Terex boom truck and truck crane lines of up to 80-tons (72-tonnes) capacity would be branded Load King ‘Stinger’.

Terex US rough terrain crane production was discontinued with rough terrain production continuing in Crespellano, Italy. In 2022 Terex announced it would close its Oklahoma City plant and that it would transfer production of its line of Genie telehandlers to a new plant in Monterrey, Mexico.

LIGHT FANTASTIC

After decades of dependence on wire ropes, in 2012 the first signs of fundamental change emerged in 2012. That year the US rope maker Samson announced its K-100 fibre rope product line which would soon be made available as an option on Manitowoc lattice boom crawler cranes and then Grove rough terrains, truck cranes, and boom trucks.

In 2019 Liebherr introduced the EC-B series of eight flat tops with three of them available with soLITE high-tensile fibre ropes developed in collaboration with Teufelberger. In 2019 Wolffkran acquired an interest in German’s Trowic GmbH – a fibre rope company.

POTAIN IN PUNE

In 2019 Manitowoc announced a new Potain manufacturing plant in Pune, India, where for many years it had been producing Potain towers with former licence Shirke. Added to its plant in Zhangjiagang, China, this gave Potain ‘two bites’ at emerging markets from Asian sources. Originally the joint venture plant in Zhangjiagang opened in 1980 but the current 56,000m2 plant was opened in 2012 and by the end of 2018 had produced over 6,000 cranes.

Soon after Bauma 2019, Arcomet and Matebat announced their new name, Uperio, managed by Phiippe Cohet, former Manitowoc executive and now chairman of Matebat and CEO of Arcomet. Uperio’s main business would be tower crane rental with a worldwide fleet of 2,200 cranes and it would also operate as a Potain distributor in France, a Terex Towers distributor, and as the Zoomlion distributor in the US through its P&J Arcomet business. One of Cohet’s expressed ambitions was to rationalise this diverse crane fleet through telematic connectivity and machine controls.

At Bauma, XCMG chairman Wang Min said, “at the very beginning of our exports, first we aimed for medium and low-end markets such as Asia, SE Asia and Africa… We realise parts supply and service support have been an issue. We have not been very strong at our management of aftersales service. It has been hard for customers to find the exact parts.”

2019 saw early North American installations of AMCS Technologies DCS 60 devices to management of prohibited overflight zones and avoid the interference of two luffing boom tower cranes. The DCS 60 operates in real time and in 3D to calculate the distance between each crane as well as movement speed.

Amongst the first to employ the AMCS devices were two Jaso J380PA luffers operating in Seattle and Vancouver followed by Comedil CTL 272-18 luffers and CTT 202 flat tops.

Meanwhile Comansa’s plant in Hangzhou was also expanded to meet demand and introduced several new models. As was also the case in SE Asian countries like Singpore, Hong Kong and Korea, China was demanding significantly larger tower cranes – as big as 25- to 50-tonnes capacity – to meet demand for PPVC pre-fabricated construction. Responding to this trend Zhangjiagang introduced its largest flat top crane – the MCT 565 with a choice of 20t, 25t and32t winches at Bauma China 2019.

While flat top (topless) cranes continued to grow in popularity in China and worldwide, in some countries like Korea, traditional hammerhead cranes like the Potain MC 310 remained very popular.

Just as flat-top tower cranes had carved out a significant market niche during the 2000s and 2010s, as manufacturers sought to balance the benefits of hammerheads versus this ‘new’ variety a third variety emerged bearing the rather cumbersome name of ‘low-tops’ as a kind of in between category – albeit with clearly definable benefits. Meanwhile in 2019 Liebherr introduced its largest flat top in the shape of the 1000 EC-B 125 of 125-tonnes max capacity.

In 2019, Zoomlion, now China and the world’s largest tower crane manufacturer, opened a huge new factory in Changde. It was the result of a RMB 780 million €100 million investment programme that started in 2016. It included 12 automated production lines, more than 10,000 sensors over 100 industrial robots and 16 CNC processing centres.

BENCHMARK MODELS

Beginning in the early 1970s Grove made a strong push to develop demand for larger-size rough terrains. The 35-ton RT 65S and 50-ton RT 75S were the first rough terrains to feature trapezoidal booms and established themselves as benchmarks.

Some 1400 RT 65Ss were sold worldwide. Grove upped the ante in 1978 with the 80-ton RT 980 which confounded critics by becoming a runaway success and for the first time became a viable alternative to lattice crawler cranes. Hopes were high in 1982 when Grove introduced the massive 8x8x8 150-tonne capacity RT 1650.

Unfortunately the crane was too far ahead of its hydraulic and automotive component technology which proved unreliable. To this time, the competition had steered clear of competing with Grove.

In 1993 Grove returned to a more conventional approach with its 100-ton RT 9100 and in 2001 added the 120-tonne capacity RT 9130E. Throughout the decades of Grove market dominance, Link-Belt and Lorain had persisted as significant US competitors but strong rough terrain crane competition also persisted from Japan’s Tadano and Kato and most recently from the all terrain crane market leader Liebherr.

Always innovative Link-Belt broke the traditional mould of two-axle rough terrains in 2002 with the 100-ton RTC 80100. This three-axle model afforded lower transport heights than the big two-axle RTs allowing them to be legally low-bedded at under 4m. The new 6×6 Link-Belts quickly found a willing market and Link-Belt has subsequently developed 130 and 160-tonne models,

Unlike Grove’s RT 1650, when Tadano developed its largest rough terrain to date, the 160-ton (145-tonne) GR 1600XL – albeit some 25-years later, they selected a three-axle carrier. Meanwhile with its latest 165-ton (150-tonne) GRT 9165 Grove adopted a similar 6x4x6 configuration.

By the 1990s demand for rough terrains cranes of 15 to 30 tonnes capacity, for generations the workhorse crane in countries like the US and Middle East, found reducing demand. The trend wasn’t just in conventional small rough terrains which progressively had been replaced in the market by larger rough terrains of 40,50, 60 and 65 tonne capacity.

In addition, telehandlers with similar boom reach of up to 18 to 23 metres and able to handle loads of one to four tonnes had become the preferred small-size high-reach option. Japan’s mini rough terrains of seven to ten tonne capacity that had become such a phenomenon in the 1990s and 2000s had been replaced by similarly compact cranes of 13 to 16 tonne capacity, while in the UK the small seven to ten tonne Coles Speedcranes and Iron Fairies were long gone.

TELE BOOM CRAWLERS

Adding new competition to rough terrains, tele boom crawler cranes continued to grow in popularity and capabilities.

First introduced by Grove and Coles in the early 1960s for decades this variety had remained a niche market product essentially kept alive by manufacturers such as Mantis of the US.

One of Germany’s most famous and respected makers of crawler cranes and excavators – Sennebogen – was an early proponent of tele boom crawler cranes and has subsequently developed as a leading full-line supplier which today also provides its products through an OEM branding agreement with Grove for the North American market.

In 2007 Link-Belt joined the fray and has since become the US market leader with a full range of cranes up to 250-tons (220-tonnes), and in 2006 Liebherr also added a 100-tonne model and has since become a strong force in the segment with a range of cranes up to 220-tonnes capacity.

After a couple of years during the early 2000s the efforts to establish Chinese cranes in the mainstream truck crane and tower crane markets of Europe and Australia diminished. While this left some crane dealers in various levels of financial distress all the while the Chinese were redoubling their product development efforts and preparing for their next foray.

At each edition of Bauma China, new, improved and larger cranes continued to appear.

In 2013 China’s President Xi introduced the Belt & Road initiative which, through loan programmes, has since funded numerous infrastructure development project in the world’s emerging nations. This provided a massive vehicle for China’s contractors and crane and machinery makers with a Government-funded access to foreign markets. For example, Zoomlion established over 20 trading platforms and nine production bases overseas with over 120 dealer sales and service outlets.

In 2019, at the Bauma show in Munich, Tadano announced that it was acquiring the Demag mobile crane business from Terex. The announced cost was $215m.

In 2021, to the surprise of many, Tadano announced it would drop the Demag brand name just as president and CEO Koichi Tadano stepped down from his leadership role.

ELECTRIC DREAMS

Major changes are also evident in the power sources of mobile cranes. As far back as the 1970s Italy’s leading manufacturer of industrial pick-and-carry mobile cranes – Valla – had developed a full-line of battery-electric models. Back then few manufacturers followed Valla’s lead but recently their former general manager founded JMG as a competitor.

In recent years the employment of battery-electric technology in mobile cranes and tele handlers has developed quite dramatically. Primary usage in mobile cranes has been on tele boom crawler cranes (Marchetti and Sany) and lattice boom cranes (Liebherr and PVE) as well as mobile industrial pick-and-carry cranes including Valla and their Italian competitors Ormig, JMG, Sard, Omar, Galizia and Lige.

In addition, mini crawler crane makers, such as Maeda and Furukawa-Unic, have long had battery-electric powered models and more recently makers of aluminium truck-mounted cranes such as Klaas and Bocker have added electric models.

In 2021 Zoomlion introduced its 25-tonne capacity ZTC 250N-EV battery electric truck crane. The world’s first ‘unmanned’ crane, it has laser scanning obstacle-avoidance, 3D scene creation, working while charging capability, anti-sway hoisting, 150kw/100km power usage equivalent to 19.5 litres fuel consumption per 100 kms and 230 kms endurance range.

In 2021 Zoomlion introduced the world’s largest tower crane in the form of the 12,000tm capacity W 12000 flat top of 450-tonnes capacity and with a maximum hook height of 400-metres.

Predictably, fast on its heels, arch-rival XCMG trumped its nemesis with the announcement of the 15,000tm XGT 15000-600.

With a maximum lifting capacity of 600-tonnes and 92.5m freestanding height the crane was developed in conjunction with China Major Bridge Engineering Co. Like other large Chinese tower cranes it was designed for the construction of large modular bridges. With an annual production of over 10,000 tower cranes, XCMG is also in the running for the top spot in tower crane output with revenues in excess of RMB 5 billion.

As these two Chinese players continue to compete for supremacy in 2022, Zoomlion held open-days for its 2,400-tonne capacity ZAT 24000H ‘all terrain’.

In this respect the use of the term ‘all terrain’ truly is a stretch. However, like Zoomlion’s earlier so-called 2,000-tonne QAY 2000 displayed at Bauma China 2012, it will be surprising if this new model ever sees the light of day outside of China! However, the same cannot be said for monster Chinese crawler cranes. Sany and Zoomlion’s sharp pricing has opened doors for their 40- to 2,000-tonne crawlers in markets as diverse as Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Russia.