EUROPE FOCUS Ӏ REGULATORY REFORM
Klaus Meissner is
now part of ESTA’s management team. “Only together will we be able to master the challenges of the coming years,” he says
ON TRACK As the progress made by ESTA and CCRA demonstrate, however, through collaboration and dialogue positive change can be effected. And in this respect John Sutch
abnormal loads would give
the Government time and space to have a consultation on how travel restrictions should work nationally. Letting local police forces and councils make decisions on travel embargoes, particularly when they are not providing evidence of their rationale, is creating a logistical nightmare and another major barrier for UK productivity.”
Cranes is on the right track. Already John Sutch and Paul Parry have enlisted the support of UK trade association the Construction Plant Hire Association (CPA), they are also in talks with local MPs, and letters have been issued to the Mayor of Liverpool and the Mayor of Manchester. “We believe that open
communication and cooperation between my business and the councils is essential to finding mutually beneficial solutions that uphold regulatory standards while enabling us to continue our operations effectively,” says Sutch.
“We are confident that through dialogue and collaboration we can work towards resolving the current situation and ensure the sustainable growth of our business while maintaining compliance with relevant regulations – but people have to come to the table.” This call to the table is also
echoed by ESTA. “ESTA has an extraordinarily welcoming and cooperative culture which should be cherished,” says Belli. “We are a group that is committed to improving our industry for the benefit of all... “We need to persuade more small and medium-sized firms to become involved in our work to ensure we adequately reflect their concerns and priorities… The overall message is simple. We are stronger together.”
COMPANY SNAPSHOT: DIVERSIFICATION AND EXPANSION FOR BKL German crane firm BKL is well-positioned for growth despite challenges of declining home building sector.
BKL Baukran Logistik (BKL) is a German crane rental, sales and service provider, headquartered in Munich with branches in Ingolstadt, Rosenheim, Frankfurt, Aschaffenburg, Nuremberg, Ansbach, Hannover and Hildesheim. It employs over 360 people. With 55 years of experience BKL is
one of Europe's largest manufacturer- independent, full-service providers of crane solutions. It has over 500 tower cranes in its fleet and more than 300 mobile cranes, mobile construction cranes, trucks, loader cranes and low-loaders. The company specialises in crane rental,
sales and service and it is growing in size. In 2023 it opened three new locations – in Aschaffenburg, Nuremberg and Ansbach – for tower crane rental. The Nuremberg and Ansbach locations
were due to BKL’s takeover of Kran-Knoll, including the mobile crane and transport services it provided. BKL also offers assembly, repair and maintenance, heavy haulage, special transport and industrial assembly services from these locations. BKL has also expanded into new business
areas, such as industrial assembly and additional crane sales services (including guarantees, hire purchase and financing offers). As such, BKL now offers a broad range of machines and services that goes far beyond the field of home construction, which the company says is currently on the decline in Germany. BKL offers manufacturer-independent
expert advice, demonstration cranes (from Liebherr or Potain), and it is the exclusive
distributor of BKL System Cattaneo and Grúas Sáez cranes in Germany and Austria. All its cranes are serviced and repaired
by experienced, factory-trained, technicians. In addition to BKL’s consulting and logistics services it can also provide transportation and erection support for buyers of self- erecting and top-slewing cranes. A new service BKL offers is the sale of used cranes and it now buys and trades used construction cranes.
At the start of this year’s construction season BKL added a number of new mobile cranes to its fleet. They range between 70 tonne truck cranes to those in the 450 and 700 tonne class. The new cranes are particularly striking due to being liveried in high-vis warning colours. This is not a precedent for BKL, however; the company says many of its truck cranes in Austria and Switzerland have similar as day marking of the boom in a warning colour is already mandatory in the safety zones around airports and landing areas there.
42 CRANES TODAY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
