STATE FOCUS | TENNESSEE
Tennessee
construction set to create boom for lifting industry
From governor-backed plans for nuclear projects to warehouse growth from some blue chip corporate players down to in-house training plans for next-generation operating talent, Dan Cave looks at the latest crane and hoist news from the Volunteer State.
sectors will be good ones. For those in the know, this will be driven by a supportive political climate (both at the state level and nationally) as well as so-called positive monetary and business environments. Not forgetting, access to buoyant local industries suitable to offering services within: from manufacturing, to automobiles, to construction. It’s not like ‘commerce’ is part of the state motto for nothing. Indeed, Tennessee is a state with a strong business focus – from the Blue Ridge mountains in the east to the wide plains and Mississippi in the west, the gross state product was worth $432.3bn – with a growth of 3.2% over the proceeding five years, according to IBISWorld figures. That’s even though the landlocked southeastern region is more well known for its cultural impact – blues, country and rockabilly music, for starts, as well as being a critical centre to the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison – and tourist attractions. Not least Dollywood, the Civil Rights Museum and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. However, business does intersect with, and
T
often precedes, culture and tourism. Notably, incumbent Governor Bill Lee has recently written to the National Football League petitioning that the globally important 2029 Super Bowl be held at the still-under-construction stadium that will be the new home of the football club Tennessee Titans. It’s a huge project: 60,000 seats designed
here’s optimism that the next few years in the Tennessee overhead crane and hoist manufacturer, service and distributor
to host major sporting events, and estimated to cost circa $2bn with around half of the spending underwritten by public funds. For the state’s governor, though, there would
surely be local pride in helping to secure such a big-ticket sporting occasion for the state, and it’s hardly the only construction-minded project on his mind. That’s because construction is a big deal in the ‘Volunteer State’. According to The Construction Association statistics, in 2024, construction contributed $23bn (4.3%) to the state's GDP, with 17,000 construction businesses in existence. It’s enabling a growing employment base – growing by 3% to YDT August 2024. This growth is no mere accident: such focus on building is backed by the state legislature. Governor Lee’s 2025–2026 financial year foci include $1bn into state infrastructure and $60m into home construction as well as further cash injections into water and nuclear projects. Indeed, an application for $800m of funding to build the country’s first small modular nuclear reactor has been sent off, and there’s bullishness regarding a record-breaking investment into the project. For crane and hoist operators, it signals
a growing sector to supply into backed by government cash. Not least, Barnhart, a Memphis operator on the larger side of construction and heavy component lifting, boasted about their involvement in a bespoke cemetery project in the city that required their 350t hydraulic crane – a real diversity of opportunity. As Terrence Moore, owner of Overhead Crane & Conveyor Service Corp (OCCS), who works
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