NOVEMBER 2022 Ӏ CRANE HISTORY
ANNIVERSARY
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
j 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
66 CRANES TODAY
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.
Tadano’s
acquisition of the Demag brand at Bauma 2019
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 free- standing 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.
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