REGION REPORT | OCEANIA


R A Konecranes installation at Boral’s waste-to-energy plant near Sydney.


and brought in a Jobkeeper scheme to help affected businesses: if your turnover has gone down by 30% or more they give you A$1500 every two weeks for every person you employ, to help cover their wages. It has stopped now. The last payment was at the end of March; but it kept people going. Plus, there was a A$10,000 subsidy to all companies that qualified; for me, that was a Godsend. I still had work coming in, I was quite lucky to be getting the Jobkeeper money – most months I just crept past the qualifying barrier by a few percent. That lasted for a year, and as I say it really did help. So, from the point of view of small businesses like mine the government handled the pandemic reasonably well.” There may be long-term consequences


for his business, though: “Melbourne had a very long lockdown,” he says. [At the time of writing, (early June) a lockdown extension was on the cards.] “I am in regional Victoria - that is outside the Melbourne area - where we were allowed to travel. But they closed the South Australia border, which meant I couldn’t go there to do the installation work for a good and regular customer there, who makes solar panels. So, I supplied the hoist and the gantry equipment and


he installed it himself. And when he discovered how easy it was to install, on the next order he said; ‘I will do the easy parts, the installation, you just supply me with the parts.” He has had dozens of cranes and installations from me in the past. From now on it looks like it will just be the cranes.” So, in Australia the pandemic disruption


is evolving into business as usual, if a slightly different business model. It is a similar story in New Zealand.


“Baker Cranes has been busy since coming out of Level 3 lockdown in April of last year,” said Ralph Bacon, project administrator of Baker Cranes. “We believe most of the other crane manufacturers in NZ are reasonably busy also. The market is small by international standards but it is quite competitive, and there is a range of crane suppliers, from those importing whole cranes from third world countries to those such as ourselves, who import components and manufacture steelwork here. Imported cheap hoists are not too much of a problem as a significant proportion of customers seem to feel more comfortable with established brands, especially the European ones.” Which is where Baker fits in: “Baker


Cranes has been supplying cranes for 30 years, and for 20 of those we have been the NZ agent for ABUS Crane Systems. We design in-house, we manufacture steelwork in-house, and we carry out the installation and servicing, and because we have a reputable European agency as well, we believe this gives us a competitive advantage over most of the other suppliers. One other advantage we have is our relationship with Eilbeck Cranes in Australia, as we purchase our components via them. This relationship has allowed us to leverage their knowledge and processes to improve our own methods. “Obviously New Zealand is a long way


from Germany,” he says, “so our lead times are dominated by the shipping time. Sometimes this can be a problem but in most cases we manage deliveries to suit the customer. However, the recent shipping turmoil has not helped.” Shipping turmoil, long distances, pandemics, cheaper cranes from Asia – what else would you have to add for a perfect storm? But hoist makers in Australasia seem to keep on going, happily and even optimistically. The place is booming, and you have to admire their resilience. ●


www.hoistmagazine.com | July 2021 | 41


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