Crane Rental Down, But Not Out

Buying afresh
Rental agencies are gauging the market closely prior to acquiring the category and class of cranes as per demand. Delhi-based crane rental heavyweight, Apollo Cranes, has placed an order for Action Construction Equipment’s (ACE) new 150-ton crawler crane. Sethia Erectors is expected to acquire a fair number of Tadano mobile cranes, and Kobelco India has clinched a deal for delivering its i-series of India make of crawler cranes. Purchases are also being contemplated by Gandhi Cranes and civil contractor SB. Protech.Expanding footprint

The scenario changed with the Reliance J3 expansion project and other greenfield projects in the hydrocarbon sector in western India and the heightened activity in wind power, due to which, rental agencies began to enter long-term hiring agreements with project owners and EPC contractors.
Roads & Bridges to the rescue

It is estimated that India’s road sector will offer construction opportunities to the tune of `5.77 trillion. According to NHAI, 831 projects spanning a length of 67,446 km?? are in the pipeline (both announced and under bidding) and will entail an investment of `9.16 trillion. The government has set a completion target of 15,000 km during 2017-18. The uptake of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) is likely to increase. New financing models such as toll-operate-transfer(TOT) and hybrid annuity model (HAM) have also been attracting substantial interest in India’s road sector.
With a surge in road construction, demand for cranes is likely to come from the cement sector as well. At 270 million tons, India is the second largest producer and consumer of cement. Most of the demand comes from housing and infrastructure sectors. India’s total installed cement production capacity stood at 420 million tons in 2016-17. A number of cement producers are planning to upgrade their processing facilities.
Metro rails & RRTS to up demand
Demand for cranes will also be led by expansion of the metro network across cities and by the regional rapid transport system (RRTS). The National Capital Region Transport Corporation plans to develop eight RRTS projects. Currently, three RRTS (Delhi- Ghaziabad- Meerut, Delhi-Gurgaon-Rewari-Alwar, and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat) projects are being undertaken on a priority basis, while the Delhi-Faridabad-Ballabhgarh-Palwal (60km), Delhi-Bahadurgarh-Rohtak (70km), and other peripheral routes are in the planning stage.Rental agencies are also eyeing upcoming hydrocarbon projects such as the greenfield HPCL refinery at Barmer in Rajasthan, and expansion of the HPCL Vizag Refinery. However, it is to be seen how soon the (proposed) big ticket industrial and transportation projects get actuated and open up more channels of business for the crane rental agencies.
Lifting & Specialized Transport January-March 2018