Industry gets a lift

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BOOM BOOM: Once assembled the mighty twin-boom crane developed by Al Suwaidi and ALE will be the biggest of the type.

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TOWERING ABOVE ALL: To get a brand-new Liebherr or Raimondi could take anything up to two years. Chinese cranes are more readily available.

Cranes and the issues surrounding them have never been so prominent in the Middle East. We look at some of the challenges as the industry moves into the modern age.

Just about any jobsite in the region needs a crane. From putting up streetlamps on road building projects, to moving power station boilers and unloading container ships, the role of the device, of course, has never been in question.

However, maintaining and ensuring the safety of the operators are just two of the issues that need to be addressed when looking at cranes. Before you can do that of course, you have to get hold of one in the first place.

Delivery times

One of the main problems that site managers have with cranes - and especially tower cranes - is the lack of supply. All the major manufacturers currently have very long lead times.

"The outlook for delivery time of cranes in the US, Europe and Japan shows delivery times of between six months and two years plus" said Theo de Boer, Managing Director Industmarket.

"I don't have a solution, but I think people need to manage their project tenders so there is enough time to hire equipment and plan for a two year lead time."

He also warns of dangers in currency value over a long equipment lead time. "Two years waiting time means you should secure your currency for what you are buying," said De Boer.

There's no doubt there's plenty of business to be had. Rough figures from House of Equipment (HoE), a UAE-based construction equipment supplier, show the scale of the region's market, with this one supplier accounting for 160 tower cranes in a year.

And, judging by HoE's experience, demand comes by the dozen. This dealer supplies tower cranes from a Chinese manufacturer Fushun Yongmao, a business formed in 1996.

HoE deals with customers' need for speed by keeping cranes from the most in demand capacity range in stock on a speculative basis.

As a result HoE can carry up to 30 tower cranes in the 6-12 tonne range in stock at any one time, avoiding the long lead times that can plague projects.

"Where it is a common size, we know the market is hot for it and we always keep it in stock," said Manfalouti. "We don't wait for customer orders to come in, but take stock ahead of time."

In other capacity ranges HoE still experiences delays, but not on the scale of the two years De Boer warns of elsewhere in the world.

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