Craning Ahead
POWER & RENEWABLE ENERGY

Craning Ahead

The fortunes of this vital equipment are looking up, discovers Charu Babri.

The use of manpower to lift and load at construction sites is a thing of the past. Stiff timelines necessitating double or treble shifts and the need to enhance productivity, create safer working environments, and work in restricted job sites are firming up demand for cranes. According to Rajesh Sharma, Vice-President and Head - Sales, Marketing and Product Support, Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd, "Current demand for cranes is even higher than the levels seen in 2007. Demand is growing at 15 to 20 per cent per annum, and is likely to remain robust in the next six months despite a slight softening attributed to higher financing rates."

Sound future demand projections for construction activity are also an outcome of the ongoing participation of the private sector in infrastructure development, especially in the port, airports and power sectors, and the government's commitment to keep up this momentum. "Besides robust demand over all crane segments, we expect Indian customers to gradually begin to demand bigger, more sophisticated cranes as the country's infrastructure continues to grow," says Raman Joshi, Managing Director and Vice President, Manitowoc Cranes India. "It is a gradual process but one that has exciting potential, given the size and future scope of the Indian market."

Towering above

By virtue of being fixed to the ground (on a concrete slab) or to the side walls of a structure, tower cranes offer both height and lifting capacity and are thus used in the construction of tall buildings. Self-erecting or self-assembling tower cranes lift themselves off the ground, necessitating no external help. Jacks allow the next section of the tower to be inserted at ground level or lifted into place as the structure being erected reaches higher levels.

nterestingly, city congestion is driving the demand for a particular kind of tower crane. Vineet Jayee, Deputy Purchasing Manager, Wave Silver Tower Pvt Ltd - a state-of-the-art office and retail development in Noida - selected a Potain MCi 85 top-slewing tower crane for its lift capacity, ability to service demanding workloads and precision in transporting loads within a confined area. The MCi 85 is working 24 hours a day at the job site, lifting sand, steel bars, shuttering plates and concrete to heights of up to 60 m in close proximity to other buildings and a metro line construction taking place just 20 m away. "The city congestion prompted us to opt for the Potain as its hoisting, slewing and trolleying mechanisms can be closely controlled," he explains. "We have rigged the crane with 45 m of jib, short of the 50 m maximum available, and limited its slewing to 180°. We also like the fact that the cranes are manufactured in India. That makes for quick after-sales services."

"With its small jib, short cathead and small mast footprint, this crane is ideal for many types of general construction sites, especially crowded urban job sites," adds Ashwani Mattoo, National Sales Manager, Tower Cranes, Manitowoc India. "With fewer pieces to its assembly, the MCi 85 A is specifically designed for fast and easy erection and dismantling, even in congested locations. The crane has design features that allow the hoist rope winding to be done at ground level, while only one tie-bar is required for the front jib. It is also economical to transport, owing to a reduced number of crane sections and limited weight."

Racing ahead

Crawler cranes are mounted on an undercarriage fitted with a set of tracks (crawlers) that provide stability and mobility. Crawler and mobile cranes find use in underground, below ground and elevated construction projects such as bridges, flyovers, metros and railways.

"Upcoming infrastructure projects such as power, refineries and steel plants are boosting the demand for mobile and crawler cranes," says Nilesh Bhorkar, National Manager - Sales & Marketing, Kobelco Cranes India Pvt Ltd. "This trend will continue for at least the next five to 10 years considering upcoming projects. In fact, we are witnessing emerging demand for crawler cranes with a higher lifting capacity, from 400 tonne to 1,000 tonne, vis-à-vis the smaller sized cranes ranging from 80 tonne to 350 tonne. We expect overall demand for crawler cranes in India to grow considerably. We offer new crawler cranes with capacities ranging from 60 to 550 tonne, though our fas-test selling product is the 250 tonne Kobelco Model CKE 2500-2."

Meanwhile, Ravindra Bhushan Pandey, General Manager, ABG Cranes Pvt Ltd, tells us, "Power plant erection and bridge construction projects are yielding the most demand for crawler cranes. Although our fastest moving crawler crane is the ABG Model 1080, an 80 mt hydraulic crawler crane, we are looking to garner a good share of the smaller and larger crawler crane segment with the release of our much awaited 35 mt Model 1035 and 160 mt Model 1160."

Localisation of products is an emerging trend among crane suppliers, which is being adopted to beat narrowing price margins owing to the influx of used cranes in the market from completed infra projects like the Jamnagar and Panipat refineries. This also helps quickly meet customer needs. Kobelco has announced a manufacturing plant near Chennai starting with its 100 tonne crawler crane. "We will take up 150 tonne and 250 tonne cranes at a later stage," adds Bhorkar. "About 50 to 60 percent of components would be of local origin, including crawlers and fabrication parts, while critical engines and booms will continue to be imported."

Terex Cranes is also looking to make long-term investments in India. And Liebherr is focusing on offering a complete package to customers in the country, including top-quality products, after-sales customer service, timely spares availability and high equipment resale value.

Mobile value-adds

The well-populated mobile crane segment almost boasts of a crane to suit every need. At one end of the spectrum, simple loader (articulating) cranes comprising a hydraulically powered articulated arm fitted to a truck or trailer help load/unload vehicles. At the other, you have rough terrain cranes wherein the crane is mounted on an undercarriage fitted with four rubber tyres designed for operations at off-road and rough terrain sites. Adaptable telescopic cranes come with a compact boom consisting of extendable and retractable tubes fitted one inside the other. All-terrain cranes combine the motorability of highway navigable truck cranes with the ability to ply on rough terrain. Still, they are the most expensive in the spectrum of mobile cranes. "The versatility comes at a huge price," observes Sharma. Therefore, these cranes are popular only in the high-capacity range, which is beyond the capacity of a rough terrain or truck crane.

Although the spectrum of mobile cranes in India is well-differentiated in terms of application, capability to negotiate terrains, load capacities, usage and pricing, Sharma believes that selection depends a lot on intended usage. "All-terrain, rough terrain and truck cranes can handle rated capacity only on outriggers and come with telescopic booms with good vertical and horizontal reaches and much higher rated load capacities," he observes. "In contrast, pick-and-carry cranes handle the rated load (usually much less than their mobile crane counterparts) on tyres and can move with the load, but they have limitations as far as reach and negotiating rough terrain conditions are concerned."

"The cheapest of the mobile cranes - pick-and-carry cranes - are also the highest selling in terms of volume," adds Sharma. Pick-and-carry cranes are generally deployed for sundry material-handling applications and lower reach engineering fabrication application at sites. Positive economic sentiments coupled with favourable industry expectations across the infrastructural, mining, agricultural, industrial and urban renewal sectors will allow the pick-and-carry crane segment to grow to around 17 to 20 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in the next five years. "We are seeing an increasing demand for material-handling mobile cranes from the roads, power, dams and building material delivery sectors," says Madhusudan V Shetty, Manager Marketing, Cargotec India Pvt Ltd. "The real-estate sector in particular is having an impact on business models in a unique way, as metros like Bengaluru and Chennai have daytime res-trictions on the entry of trucks of 16 tonne and 25 tonne gross vehicle weight (GVW). Consequently, cranes mounted on 11 tonne GVW and 9 tonne GVW are witnessing an increase in demand. Our HIAB XS 122 B1CLX 12 tonne metre crane is a proven crane in this sector. It has been mounted on various chassis like the 1109, 1615 and 2515."

According to Prem Nathani, National Sales Manager, Mobile Cranes, Manitowoc India, "The delivery of a GMK6300 to BMM Ispat last year - the first 300 tonne Grove all-terrain crane to be delivered in India - clearly demonstrates the market potential. We believe there is demand for bigger cranes and look forward to placing our high-capacity, all-terrain cranes, including the new GMK6400 with a 400 tonne maxi-mum capacity and the new GMK6300L, with an 80 m boom - the longest in its class."

Cargo handlers

Bulk-handling cranes designed to carry a shell grab or bucket instead of using a hook and a sling help handle bulk materials such as coal, fertilisers and minerals. These, and diesel-hydraulic or electric-hydraulic deck cranes that may be placed on ships and boats, are used for cargo operations, especially where no shore unloading facilities are available. Floating cranes are also used to load and unload heavy loads on and off ships as well as in bulk material transloading, where bigger ships cannot enter smaller ports owing to draught restrictions. They also find use in bridge building and port construction. Hammerhead cranes comprising a fixed-jib and steel-braced tower, and level luffing cranes composed of a hinged jib with an extra mechanism to keep the hook level when luffing also find use in ports. "With existing Indian ports reporting utilisation capacity of above 100 per cent, much above the 70 per cent utilisation rates of ports the world over, there is tremendous scope to replace equipment," shares Ajay Jalali, Head - Marine Business, Cargotec India Pvt Ltd. "Replacing equipment that has outlived its life would help decongest existing ports such as JNPT, where six STS are under replacement with new cranes. We estimate the demand for gantry cranes to be about 10 to 20 machines per year, for level luffing cranes used mainly at ports, jetties and shipyards to be around 20 to 25 machines per annum; for deck cranes to be between 50 to 100 cranes depending on market demand; and for floating cranes used for transloading operations at anchorage to be limited to 10 cranes a year. We are major players in the latter segment."

As for trends in the port cranes sector, J P Awasthi, Senior Vice-President, Continental Construction Corp Ltd, observes, "Port cargo-handling operations use gantry cranes travelling on rails, hammerhead cranes, level luffing cranes or wharf cranes. Nowadays, however, we are seeing a trend towards the greater use of mobile harbour cranes for their versatility and flexibility. Overseas brands like Gottwald and Liebherr are gaining in popularity."

"Numerous port projects being taken up as private-public sector partnerships or privatised ventures are boosting demand for various cargo handling equipment in ports like electrical level luffing cranes rail mounted quay cranes, ship loaders and unloaders, etc," points out Gautam Dutta, Deputy Chief - P & YE Division, TRF Ltd. "While it's true that some port operators are tending towards acquiring mobile harbour cranes, the cargo handling performance of the latter cannot be compared to automated electrical level luffing cranes, and ship loaders and unloaders. The in-house technology driving our port cranes is designed to meet optimum time cycles and can considerably increase efficiency in a cargo handling yard. Appropriate investments in cranes used in ports helps ensure consistent output." Clearly, the fortunes of every kind of crane are looking up, and are set to brighten as more infrastructure development projects are rolled out.

The fortunes of this vital equipment are looking up, discovers Charu Babri.The use of manpower to lift and load at construction sites is a thing of the past. Stiff timelines necessitating double or treble shifts and the need to enhance productivity, create safer working environments, and work in restricted job sites are firming up demand for cranes. According to Rajesh Sharma, Vice-President and Head - Sales, Marketing and Product Support, Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd, Current demand for cranes is even higher than the levels seen in 2007. Demand is growing at 15 to 20 per cent per annum, and is likely to remain robust in the next six months despite a slight softening attributed to higher financing rates.Sound future demand projections for construction activity are also an outcome of the ongoing participation of the private sector in infrastructure development, especially in the port, airports and power sectors, and the government's commitment to keep up this momentum. Besides robust demand over all crane segments, we expect Indian customers to gradually begin to demand bigger, more sophisticated cranes as the country's infrastructure continues to grow, says Raman Joshi, Managing Director and Vice President, Manitowoc Cranes India. It is a gradual process but one that has exciting potential, given the size and future scope of the Indian market.Towering aboveBy virtue of being fixed to the ground (on a concrete slab) or to the side walls of a structure, tower cranes offer both height and lifting capacity and are thus used in the construction of tall buildings. Self-erecting or self-assembling tower cranes lift themselves off the ground, necessitating no external help. Jacks allow the next section of the tower to be inserted at ground level or lifted into place as the structure being erected reaches higher levels.nterestingly, city congestion is driving the demand for a particular kind of tower crane. Vineet Jayee, Deputy Purchasing Manager, Wave Silver Tower Pvt Ltd - a state-of-the-art office and retail development in Noida - selected a Potain MCi 85 top-slewing tower crane for its lift capacity, ability to service demanding workloads and precision in transporting loads within a confined area. The MCi 85 is working 24 hours a day at the job site, lifting sand, steel bars, shuttering plates and concrete to heights of up to 60 m in close proximity to other buildings and a metro line construction taking place just 20 m away. The city congestion prompted us to opt for the Potain as its hoisting, slewing and trolleying mechanisms can be closely controlled, he explains. We have rigged the crane with 45 m of jib, short of the 50 m maximum available, and limited its slewing to 180°. We also like the fact that the cranes are manufactured in India. That makes for quick after-sales services.With its small jib, short cathead and small mast footprint, this crane is ideal for many types of general construction sites, especially crowded urban job sites, adds Ashwani Mattoo, National Sales Manager, Tower Cranes, Manitowoc India. With fewer pieces to its assembly, the MCi 85 A is specifically designed for fast and easy erection and dismantling, even in congested locations. The crane has design features that allow the hoist rope winding to be done at ground level, while only one tie-bar is required for the front jib. It is also economical to transport, owing to a reduced number of crane sections and limited weight.Racing aheadCrawler cranes are mounted on an undercarriage fitted with a set of tracks (crawlers) that provide stability and mobility. Crawler and mobile cranes find use in underground, below ground and elevated construction projects such as bridges, flyovers, metros and railways.Upcoming infrastructure projects such as power, refineries and steel plants are boosting the demand for mobile and crawler cranes, says Nilesh Bhorkar, National Manager - Sales & Marketing, Kobelco Cranes India Pvt Ltd. This trend will continue for at least the next five to 10 years considering upcoming projects. In fact, we are witnessing emerging demand for crawler cranes with a higher lifting capacity, from 400 tonne to 1,000 tonne, vis-à-vis the smaller sized cranes ranging from 80 tonne to 350 tonne. We expect overall demand for crawler cranes in India to grow considerably. We offer new crawler cranes with capacities ranging from 60 to 550 tonne, though our fas-test selling product is the 250 tonne Kobelco Model CKE 2500-2.Meanwhile, Ravindra Bhushan Pandey, General Manager, ABG Cranes Pvt Ltd, tells us, Power plant erection and bridge construction projects are yielding the most demand for crawler cranes. Although our fastest moving crawler crane is the ABG Model 1080, an 80 mt hydraulic crawler crane, we are looking to garner a good share of the smaller and larger crawler crane segment with the release of our much awaited 35 mt Model 1035 and 160 mt Model 1160.Localisation of products is an emerging trend among crane suppliers, which is being adopted to beat narrowing price margins owing to the influx of used cranes in the market from completed infra projects like the Jamnagar and Panipat refineries. This also helps quickly meet customer needs. Kobelco has announced a manufacturing plant near Chennai starting with its 100 tonne crawler crane. We will take up 150 tonne and 250 tonne cranes at a later stage, adds Bhorkar. About 50 to 60 percent of components would be of local origin, including crawlers and fabrication parts, while critical engines and booms will continue to be imported.Terex Cranes is also looking to make long-term investments in India. And Liebherr is focusing on offering a complete package to customers in the country, including top-quality products, after-sales customer service, timely spares availability and high equipment resale value.Mobile value-addsThe well-populated mobile crane segment almost boasts of a crane to suit every need. At one end of the spectrum, simple loader (articulating) cranes comprising a hydraulically powered articulated arm fitted to a truck or trailer help load/unload vehicles. At the other, you have rough terrain cranes wherein the crane is mounted on an undercarriage fitted with four rubber tyres designed for operations at off-road and rough terrain sites. Adaptable telescopic cranes come with a compact boom consisting of extendable and retractable tubes fitted one inside the other. All-terrain cranes combine the motorability of highway navigable truck cranes with the ability to ply on rough terrain. Still, they are the most expensive in the spectrum of mobile cranes. The versatility comes at a huge price, observes Sharma. Therefore, these cranes are popular only in the high-capacity range, which is beyond the capacity of a rough terrain or truck crane.Although the spectrum of mobile cranes in India is well-differentiated in terms of application, capability to negotiate terrains, load capacities, usage and pricing, Sharma believes that selection depends a lot on intended usage. All-terrain, rough terrain and truck cranes can handle rated capacity only on outriggers and come with telescopic booms with good vertical and horizontal reaches and much higher rated load capacities, he observes. In contrast, pick-and-carry cranes handle the rated load (usually much less than their mobile crane counterparts) on tyres and can move with the load, but they have limitations as far as reach and negotiating rough terrain conditions are concerned.The cheapest of the mobile cranes - pick-and-carry cranes - are also the highest selling in terms of volume, adds Sharma. Pick-and-carry cranes are generally deployed for sundry material-handling applications and lower reach engineering fabrication application at sites. Positive economic sentiments coupled with favourable industry expectations across the infrastructural, mining, agricultural, industrial and urban renewal sectors will allow the pick-and-carry crane segment to grow to around 17 to 20 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in the next five years. We are seeing an increasing demand for material-handling mobile cranes from the roads, power, dams and building material delivery sectors, says Madhusudan V Shetty, Manager Marketing, Cargotec India Pvt Ltd. The real-estate sector in particular is having an impact on business models in a unique way, as metros like Bengaluru and Chennai have daytime res-trictions on the entry of trucks of 16 tonne and 25 tonne gross vehicle weight (GVW). Consequently, cranes mounted on 11 tonne GVW and 9 tonne GVW are witnessing an increase in demand. Our HIAB XS 122 B1CLX 12 tonne metre crane is a proven crane in this sector. It has been mounted on various chassis like the 1109, 1615 and 2515.According to Prem Nathani, National Sales Manager, Mobile Cranes, Manitowoc India, The delivery of a GMK6300 to BMM Ispat last year - the first 300 tonne Grove all-terrain crane to be delivered in India - clearly demonstrates the market potential. We believe there is demand for bigger cranes and look forward to placing our high-capacity, all-terrain cranes, including the new GMK6400 with a 400 tonne maxi-mum capacity and the new GMK6300L, with an 80 m boom - the longest in its class.Cargo handlersBulk-handling cranes designed to carry a shell grab or bucket instead of using a hook and a sling help handle bulk materials such as coal, fertilisers and minerals. These, and diesel-hydraulic or electric-hydraulic deck cranes that may be placed on ships and boats, are used for cargo operations, especially where no shore unloading facilities are available. Floating cranes are also used to load and unload heavy loads on and off ships as well as in bulk material transloading, where bigger ships cannot enter smaller ports owing to draught restrictions. They also find use in bridge building and port construction. Hammerhead cranes comprising a fixed-jib and steel-braced tower, and level luffing cranes composed of a hinged jib with an extra mechanism to keep the hook level when luffing also find use in ports. With existing Indian ports reporting utilisation capacity of above 100 per cent, much above the 70 per cent utilisation rates of ports the world over, there is tremendous scope to replace equipment, shares Ajay Jalali, Head - Marine Business, Cargotec India Pvt Ltd. Replacing equipment that has outlived its life would help decongest existing ports such as JNPT, where six STS are under replacement with new cranes. We estimate the demand for gantry cranes to be about 10 to 20 machines per year, for level luffing cranes used mainly at ports, jetties and shipyards to be around 20 to 25 machines per annum; for deck cranes to be between 50 to 100 cranes depending on market demand; and for floating cranes used for transloading operations at anchorage to be limited to 10 cranes a year. We are major players in the latter segment.As for trends in the port cranes sector, J P Awasthi, Senior Vice-President, Continental Construction Corp Ltd, observes, Port cargo-handling operations use gantry cranes travelling on rails, hammerhead cranes, level luffing cranes or wharf cranes. Nowadays, however, we are seeing a trend towards the greater use of mobile harbour cranes for their versatility and flexibility. Overseas brands like Gottwald and Liebherr are gaining in popularity.Numerous port projects being taken up as private-public sector partnerships or privatised ventures are boosting demand for various cargo handling equipment in ports like electrical level luffing cranes rail mounted quay cranes, ship loaders and unloaders, etc, points out Gautam Dutta, Deputy Chief - P & YE Division, TRF Ltd. While it's true that some port operators are tending towards acquiring mobile harbour cranes, the cargo handling performance of the latter cannot be compared to automated electrical level luffing cranes, and ship loaders and unloaders. The in-house technology driving our port cranes is designed to meet optimum time cycles and can considerably increase efficiency in a cargo handling yard. Appropriate investments in cranes used in ports helps ensure consistent output. Clearly, the fortunes of every kind of crane are looking up, and are set to brighten as more infrastructure development projects are rolled out.

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