Rough Terrain Crane Sector Seeing High Traction: Tadano, Liebherr & ACE
Amidst the dynamic landscape of India's construction industry, the rough terrain cranes sector is experiencing a notable surge in activity, driven by evolving demand patterns. Manufacturers like Tadano, Liebherr and ACE are swiftly adapting to these changes, broadening the capacities of their cranes to address a diverse array of projects, from industrial to urban infrastructure developments. P.P. Basistha reports on the current market scenario and the factors propelling this growth.
Over the past year, there has been a noticeable uptick in demand for mobile rough terrain (RT) cranes in India. While these cranes have been available in the market, their utilization has traditionally been modest within the Indian construction and infrastructure sectors. Typically, they have been employed for tasks such as concrete bridge girder straightening and the construction of superstructures for elevated metro railway stations and allied jobs.
Predominantly, these cranes have found use in supporting industrial projects such as cement and refinery construction, as well as in regular shutdown maintenance within the refinery and mining sectors. Their ability to handle heavy loads has made them particularly well-suited for these applications, leading to significant utilization in PSU sectors. However, recent changes in the business landscape of RT cranes have brought about new demands across various capacities, previously unseen. Interestingly, there has been a surge in purchases of cranes by end-users for their own regular maintenance needs in industries like refineries, cement, and fertilizers, rather than relying solely on crane rental service providers. This shift has injected fresh momentum into the RT crane segment.
As competition heats up, Rough Terrain Crane manufacturers are now offering their cranes with a host of tech-rich features and capabilities, including larger load capacity, and better operator assist features. Rough terrain cranes offer advantages such as easy manoeuvrability even on steep, uneven, and muddy terrains, better stability and control due to their larger tires, better steering and traction due to their all-wheel drive, and a lot more power.
Abhijeet Narote, Head Sales - Tadano Cranes India, informs that the company is seeing consistent demand of their RT cranes since the past few years, mainly from the PSU sectors and some fertilizer, cement companies. “During 2023, we booked orders for 7 units of our RTs of various capacities available in our GR series. The cranes will be imported from our flagship facility in Japan, and we will deliver them in 8-10 months’ time to the end-users in industries like refinery, cement and fertilizer.”
According to him, the PSUs and the private corporate segments are now preferring to acquire the cranes directly from the OEMs instead of relying on rental agencies. This is mainly due to their safety concerns when the RTs are undertaking maintenance work. Buying directly also ensures timely delivery of the cranes, a demand which rental agencies may not be able to meet.
RT cranes are finding increasing demand in refineries undergoing expansion or regular maintenance, and in fertilizer and cement plants, due to their ability to move with loads, great activity in narrow space, compactness - ability to turn in small radius. Their single cab operation and single engine which functions as prime mover and also for movement of the booms, makes the cranes deliver lower running and operational costs. They are also considered safe during maintenance.
Says Narote, “Our compact RT cranes can fulfill all these operational criteria, particularly when safety is a concern when the crane is working on undulated sites with outriggers spread. Our ‘Smart Chart’ automatically calculates the load to be lifted, synchronizing with the spread of the outriggers. The Tadano’s Automatic Moment Limiter (AML) system makes the working of the cranes even more safe for the operator especially when the cranes are working at constricted sites with extended booms.”
With the AML, the boom position, spread of outriggers, control levers locks, boom lengths, jib lengths, lifting heights can be seen in the electronic display systems by the crane operator.
Tadano is targeting the market for 75+ ton capacity cranes with its GR series of RT cranes ranging between 80 to 145 tons. “Our higher capacity 145-ton RT crane comes with a longer boom length of 61-meter and 18-meter Jib, for instance, our 80-ton RT crane comes with a 47-meter-long boom as compared to boom lengths of 30-35 meters offered by other brands of 75-ton units. What’s more, "Our full power telescoping boom models have the advantage to operate with all booms extending at easy and smooth extension, ensuring faster working of the crane.” Tadano India has sold a unit of its 145-ton RT crane to HPCL Mumbai, and one unit to IFFCO Paradip. Another couple of orders for 145-ton RT cranes are under execution.
The company has close to 100 units of RT cranes working in India. Tadano Cranes India is offering service support all over India and having spare parts support to its brand of old and new cranes from its stockyard in Mumbai. It is also giving training to operators to enable them to perform the various lifting jobs with greater efficiency.
Subhajit Chandra, Head, Liebherr Cranes India, informs, that they are also looking to build up their business in the RT crane space and the company will be pitching its higher capacity cranes, namely the LRT- 1090-2.1, 90-ton, LRT 1100-2.1, 100-ton and LRT1130-2.1, 130 ton, that have been manufactured for both the global and domestic markets.
“Our cranes are most suitable for working in urban and industrial infrastructure projects. The cranes adhere to EN 13000 (which can be termed unanimously the only worldwide accepted standard) design standards with enhanced stability, safety, reliability due to their advanced working mechanism and robust structure,” says Chandra.
He adds, “To enhance the safety in our 90, 100-ton, 130-ton cranes, the derating of the cranes has been done keeping at least 75% as reserved load, and the load chart is configured accordingly. Liebherr’s unique Vario Base mechanism automatically calculates the load being lifted given the axle load of the cranes and center of gravity.”
Liebherr’s new LRT series of RT cranes have a long OVI boom - similar to that of Liebherr’s all-terrain cranes. According to Chandra, the OVI design features higher tensile steel strength while making the booms lighter. This enables the cranes to deliver better loads and remain stable while working.
“Our LRT series of RT crane come with a telematics telescopic system with which individual telescopic parts are extended independently from each other with just one cylinder and bolted to the overlying telescopic part. With just two telescopic paths, strong or long, optimal lifting capacities are implemented across the entire radius range. The variable support base, which is integrated as standard, guarantees a maximum level of safety for crane drivers and their surroundings. It allows for higher lifting capacities with variable jib positions,” informs Chandra.
here is a significant gap in the availability of lower and medium capacity RT cranes in the market,” observes Manoj Agarwal, Vice President & Head of Sales & Marketing for Heavy Equipment at ACE Cranes. “We are looking to cater to this segment with our lower and medium capacity RT cranes. We have sound engineering & manufacturing expertise in the RT segment based on our experience in manufacturing of Crawler, Mobile and Truck-mounted cranes. We have carried out innovation & research for ensuring optimum stability and safety and have ensured rigidity in structure through the deployment of long boom technology - both in U shaped and HEX versions thanks to our in-house capability of high-end fabrication and bending. We have engineered them for more mobility and travel speed on the tough Indian project sites by using advanced transmissions & axle of reputed manufacturers.”
For Action Construction Equipment, the RT crane is an entirely new business segment, which will broaden its cranes portfolio. It is currently marketing its 20, 45, and 75-ton RT cranes and plans to add 30 and 55-tons very shortly. The RTs are being manufactured at ACE Industrial Park in Palwal, Haryana. The company has already sold around 8 units of its 45-ton & 75-ton RTs and have a strong order book for the entire year.
Says Agarwal, “Earlier, demand for RT cranes was mostly from government sectors, but now, with the growing construction of road and bridge infrastructure & focus on Infra, these cranes are being used for undertaking jobs in congested urban sites since they can maneuver in constricted areas with ease due to their compact footprint. They are also being preferred over truck and crawler lattice boom cranes because they take lesser set up time of their outriggers and for extending the telescopic booms.”
He informs that ACE’s RT cranes will be sold and serviced by the company directly through its own team of sales and service personnel.
Predominantly, these cranes have found use in supporting industrial projects such as cement and refinery construction, as well as in regular shutdown maintenance within the refinery and mining sectors. Their ability to handle heavy loads has made them particularly well-suited for these applications, leading to significant utilization in PSU sectors. However, recent changes in the business landscape of RT cranes have brought about new demands across various capacities, previously unseen. Interestingly, there has been a surge in purchases of cranes by end-users for their own regular maintenance needs in industries like refineries, cement, and fertilizers, rather than relying solely on crane rental service providers. This shift has injected fresh momentum into the RT crane segment.
As competition heats up, Rough Terrain Crane manufacturers are now offering their cranes with a host of tech-rich features and capabilities, including larger load capacity, and better operator assist features. Rough terrain cranes offer advantages such as easy manoeuvrability even on steep, uneven, and muddy terrains, better stability and control due to their larger tires, better steering and traction due to their all-wheel drive, and a lot more power.
According to him, the PSUs and the private corporate segments are now preferring to acquire the cranes directly from the OEMs instead of relying on rental agencies. This is mainly due to their safety concerns when the RTs are undertaking maintenance work. Buying directly also ensures timely delivery of the cranes, a demand which rental agencies may not be able to meet.
RT cranes are finding increasing demand in refineries undergoing expansion or regular maintenance, and in fertilizer and cement plants, due to their ability to move with loads, great activity in narrow space, compactness - ability to turn in small radius. Their single cab operation and single engine which functions as prime mover and also for movement of the booms, makes the cranes deliver lower running and operational costs. They are also considered safe during maintenance.
Says Narote, “Our compact RT cranes can fulfill all these operational criteria, particularly when safety is a concern when the crane is working on undulated sites with outriggers spread. Our ‘Smart Chart’ automatically calculates the load to be lifted, synchronizing with the spread of the outriggers. The Tadano’s Automatic Moment Limiter (AML) system makes the working of the cranes even more safe for the operator especially when the cranes are working at constricted sites with extended booms.”
With the AML, the boom position, spread of outriggers, control levers locks, boom lengths, jib lengths, lifting heights can be seen in the electronic display systems by the crane operator.
Tadano is targeting the market for 75+ ton capacity cranes with its GR series of RT cranes ranging between 80 to 145 tons. “Our higher capacity 145-ton RT crane comes with a longer boom length of 61-meter and 18-meter Jib, for instance, our 80-ton RT crane comes with a 47-meter-long boom as compared to boom lengths of 30-35 meters offered by other brands of 75-ton units. What’s more, "Our full power telescoping boom models have the advantage to operate with all booms extending at easy and smooth extension, ensuring faster working of the crane.” Tadano India has sold a unit of its 145-ton RT crane to HPCL Mumbai, and one unit to IFFCO Paradip. Another couple of orders for 145-ton RT cranes are under execution.
The company has close to 100 units of RT cranes working in India. Tadano Cranes India is offering service support all over India and having spare parts support to its brand of old and new cranes from its stockyard in Mumbai. It is also giving training to operators to enable them to perform the various lifting jobs with greater efficiency.
“Our cranes are most suitable for working in urban and industrial infrastructure projects. The cranes adhere to EN 13000 (which can be termed unanimously the only worldwide accepted standard) design standards with enhanced stability, safety, reliability due to their advanced working mechanism and robust structure,” says Chandra.
He adds, “To enhance the safety in our 90, 100-ton, 130-ton cranes, the derating of the cranes has been done keeping at least 75% as reserved load, and the load chart is configured accordingly. Liebherr’s unique Vario Base mechanism automatically calculates the load being lifted given the axle load of the cranes and center of gravity.”
Liebherr’s new LRT series of RT cranes have a long OVI boom - similar to that of Liebherr’s all-terrain cranes. According to Chandra, the OVI design features higher tensile steel strength while making the booms lighter. This enables the cranes to deliver better loads and remain stable while working.
“Our LRT series of RT crane come with a telematics telescopic system with which individual telescopic parts are extended independently from each other with just one cylinder and bolted to the overlying telescopic part. With just two telescopic paths, strong or long, optimal lifting capacities are implemented across the entire radius range. The variable support base, which is integrated as standard, guarantees a maximum level of safety for crane drivers and their surroundings. It allows for higher lifting capacities with variable jib positions,” informs Chandra.
For Action Construction Equipment, the RT crane is an entirely new business segment, which will broaden its cranes portfolio. It is currently marketing its 20, 45, and 75-ton RT cranes and plans to add 30 and 55-tons very shortly. The RTs are being manufactured at ACE Industrial Park in Palwal, Haryana. The company has already sold around 8 units of its 45-ton & 75-ton RTs and have a strong order book for the entire year.
Says Agarwal, “Earlier, demand for RT cranes was mostly from government sectors, but now, with the growing construction of road and bridge infrastructure & focus on Infra, these cranes are being used for undertaking jobs in congested urban sites since they can maneuver in constricted areas with ease due to their compact footprint. They are also being preferred over truck and crawler lattice boom cranes because they take lesser set up time of their outriggers and for extending the telescopic booms.”
He informs that ACE’s RT cranes will be sold and serviced by the company directly through its own team of sales and service personnel.
NBM&CW - April 2024
