The North American off-highway equipment market is expected to grow by almost 55% from 2017 to 2022, according to a recent forecast by Off-Highway Research. Forecasted sales of construction equipment for North America are expected to grow from 173,188 units in 2017, up to 267,350 units in 2022.

A Halifax developer’s brand new tower crane is playing a key role in the construction of 400 luxury apartment units.

When the crane used to erect the new Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria crossed the Strait of Georgia from its home base in Vancouver, it didn’t take the ferry.

Crane companies with operations in British Columbia are gearing up for renewed activity on the Site C dam following a provincial government decision in late 2017 to proceed.

Canada’s abundant natural resources are just beginning to be tapped, and, as a greater exploration of mineral and energy sources ramps up, the country will have a need for more heavy construction equipment, including cranes, crane trucks, and related equipment.

For more than a century, the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) has been dedicated to offering free access to reading materials to residents in the Vancouver area, while promoting the joy of reading and learning to all.

Cranes will be modest in size, but hard working, when crews refurbish four bridges on Crowchild Trail, a major roadway in Calgary over the next two years.

Cranes and heavy construction have long been stereotyped as “men’s work,” and the demographics of the industry could enforce that perception. The industry is fairly dominated by men. But that perception is changing, as more and more women are establishing themselves as driving forces within their companies and within the industry as a whole.

It took three construction seasons, but the Upper Cambie Bridge has been replaced. The $7.7-million project began in May 2015, involving the replacement of the aging bridge located on the summit of Highway 3 (Crowsnest), east of Allison Pass, and west of the Manning Park Resort, about 60 kilometres east of Hope, B.C.

As Canada moves towards legalizing marijuana for recreational use, cranes are poised to gain a foothold in a budding new industry.

This past May, Calgary’s historic 12th Street S.E. Bridge was removed. The “Zoo Bridge”, which leads to an island in the middle of the Bow River, was constructed in 1908 as part of an agreement between the Federal Government and the City of Calgary. Since the age of the bridge began to become a significant logistic challenge, Mammoet were contracted, via Pomerleau/Westpro, to remove the bridge to make way for a replacement.

Runway condition influences how well a crane moves on its rails, and profoundly affects the usability and lifetime of the crane and its travelling machineries. A runway in poor condition reduces crane performance and can create serious safety risks. 

Imagine capturing video from a training session so prospective operators can literally have a bird’s-eye view of their manoeuvres; or no longer having to dismantle your crane and lay it on its side for inspection. When we think about drones, a commonly conjured image is of teenagers flying them recreationally. Every so often, newspapers carry stories about close calls with aircraft, or users illicitly photographing their neighbours. Drones are used for search-and-rescue, three-dimensional mapping, storm tracking, even warfare. So why can’t they help us work with cranes? In fact, that’s starting to happen. A Toronto drone data and software provider, Industrial SkyWorks, is field-testing BlueVu software designed to deliver crane-related imagery taken in realtime to a user’s computer. Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Industrial SkyWorks, is a director of Unmanned Systems Canada, a drone industry trade association, and his own sights are trained on commercial uses. The company has already released BlueVu modules specifically designed to capture images of building exteriors and oil and gas facilities, to assist with their inspection. Last year, Cohen was approached about facilitating the use of drones to inspect crawler cranes. “They’re forced to take these cranes down once a month for a visual inspection,” Cohen explains. “Imagine the time, cost, labour and lost productivity that goes with that. So we’ve engaged with one of the leading construction companies to design a drone-meets-software program for them.” Users with BlueVu software on their computers can dispatch remote-controlled drones, just like the teenager next door. Except the optimal drone is built to commercial-industrial scale with a high-pixel camera designed to capture extremely strong resolution images from whatever vantage points are needed. “The photographs are georeferenced and converted into three dimensional models,” Cohen says, explaining that an inspector can view the imagery using a computer or mobile device. “You would see anything that’s misshapen in the geometry, corrosion, cracks and broken welds — any distortion whatsoever to the integrity of the surface or the support structures. The drone collects the data, the software converts it into something that’s usable, and you can perform an inspection (on your computer).” While Industrial SkyWorks already offers modules for building and oil-and-gas inspection, the version for crane inspectors is new enough that it’s still at the proof-of-concept stage. “We’re actually flying [around] the cranes with drones, collecting data, and then proving whether or not that data is sufficient enough for visual inspection,” Cohen says. “The results are very promising.” While the testing is currently being done with crawlers, Cohen says the technology should work with any kind of crane, including tower cranes. “There could be an application for those, as well, but we haven’t been asked to do that.” What is immediately evident is that drones should be commercial-industrial scale and not those meant for recreational flying. “Your cellphone could take really good pictures of the crane, but the sensors with [high-end drones] could be 40 megapixel cameras that are taking ultra-high resolution imagery down to sub-centimetre level resolution,” Cohen says. “The best-in-class will have obstacle avoidance, so you could literally program the drone to say you want it to be 30 feet from the crane and no closer, or otherwise for safety because you’re on a job site.” Could drones do more than supply high-resolution images for easy inspection? We asked, half-joking, if drones could deliver lunch to a tower crane operator or ferret things back and forth. “Delivering lunch is certainly an interesting idea — I think that’s entirely possible,” Cohen says. “I can also imagine you could put a drone on-station and live-feed images to an operator. If you have a couple hundred feet out on the boom and you need to look at something, this might be an obvious way to do it.” Shawn Galloway, an instructor with Atlanta, Ga.-based Crane Industry Services (CIS), says the training and certification company is actively exploring the use of drones to help with many aspects of crane work. Drones equipped with visual and even thermal cameras could provide prospective operators, riggers and lift directors valuable overviews of a job site, Galloway says, explaining that mapping software could help determine the optimal placement of a crane for the safest, most efficient lifts. “You can get down to the detail of where to put a piece of equipment for the lift all before mobilizing the equipment,” Galloway says. “Then, after a lift is planned, the drone could be used to verify placement based on the previous survey conducted by the crew.” Drones could come in handy right before a manoeuvre or if a situation suddenly arises. “On a tower crane you could fly your drone to check the cords and lacings of the tower and boom,” Galloway says. “If a tower crane has a collision and something needs to be checked very quickly, a drone could be deployed to do a cursory check. If there is no room to boom down a lattice boom or really any other mobile crane but a boom check needs to be made, a drone can be used to accomplish this without having to use a lifting device to get an inspector up there.” For now, CIS remains at the exploratory stage. “Before CIS actually uses drones for inspections, parameters, skill levels and applications would have to be set into place,” Galloway’s boss and company CEO Debbie Dickinson says. Dickinson says the company is working with the Georgia Institute of Technology on construction technology research that includes the use of drones, and their work may result in drafts of standards for drone use in construction and simulation systems for training personnel. North of the U.S. border, Transport Canada regulates the use of drones, and new, updated rules governing issues such as privacy, public safety and operator training are in the works. <www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/opssvs/proposed-rules-dronescanada.html>. CIS’s Shawn Galloway says he strongly supports user training in the commercial-industrial space. “Drones occupy and have the capability to occupy the same airspace as manned aircraft,” he says. “Training for advanced users can entail weather, airspace, airworthiness, rules and regulations, and a program of real flight time.” Ultimately, Galloway sees drones as a natural fit for cranes. “The construction industry has used aerial photography for decades in project planning. Drones, in the hands of skilled pilots who understand construction and machines, just make the job of the helicopter perspective easier and more affordable."

CM Labs Simulations has announced the release of the all-new Luffing Tower Crane (LTC) Training Pack, the first simulation-based LTC training platform on the market. Immediately available for deployment across the full catalog of Vortex Construction Equipment Simulators, the LTC Training Pack is CM Labs' most feature-rich crane simulation to date.

Crane & Hoist Canada checks out some of the latest crawler cranes for the Canadian marketplace.High-performance compact crawler craneLiebherr’s LR 1500 delivers the load capacities of the 500-tonne crawler crane class throughout its operating range whilst having the dimensions and component weights which have previously been normal in the 400-tonne class. It can be transported around the world without restrictions with a transport weight of just 46.7 tonnes. The overall concept of the new crane is designed for simplicity in all areas and great economy. The criteria of simplicity and economy also had the highest priority in the development of the LR 1500. The new Liebherr crawler crane cannot just be transported easily and at a low cost, but is also simple to set up and operate. The powerful main hoist gear with its line pull of 180 kN can handle all hoists up to the maximum load capacity. This makes crane operation easier since it means that there is no need for a second winch for dual operation for heavyweight hoists. Another winch with a rope hoist of 125 kN is only needed if the crane is operated with a runner. The entire lattice boom system is also notable for its simplicity. The number of parts and parts range on the new LR 1500 has been reduced by deliberately not using the otherwise standard divisions of lattice sections. That makes the transport and erection of the lattice boom simpler and therefore more economical. The designers have come up with a particularly smart solution to increase economy with the central ballast. It consists of just a few concrete sections which can be set up quickly and easily and whose top section forms a safe catwalk for the undercarriage.www.liebherr.comMulti-purpose crawler craneThe CK3300G-2, CKE3000G and CKS3000 debut as the largest models of Kobelco’s multi-purpose crawler crane CK / CKE / CKS series. Along with the recent increase in weights and dimensions of construction materials and heights of high-rise buildings, mobile cranes are required to have a higher lifting capacity as well as improved productivity and safety. In order to respond to such needs, Kobelco recently developed these “All Rounder” cranes that can handle a wide variety of applications in different jobsites by utilizing Kobelco’s solid achievements and technologies in multi-purpose cranes as well as handling even the heaviest lifts on large-scale projects. Various kinds of attachments are available ranging from standard crane configuration, including fixed jib, heavy fixed jib and luffing jib, which are most suitable for multipurpose works, to the super heavy lift configuration, including luffing jib, for the heaviest lifts. Kobelco designed these cranes taking into consideration maximum compatibility, such as jibs and pallet weights, with our other models.The North American model (CK3300G-2) has a standard maximum lifting capacity of 661,300 lb. x 18.1 ft.; standard maximum boom length of 295 ft.; standard maximum fixed jib combination of 256 ft. + 100 ft.; standard maximum luffing jib combination of 197 ft. + 217 ft.; and standard heavy fixed jib combination of 236 ft. + 98 ft.www.kobelco-cranes.comTelescopic boom crawler craneThe GTC-800 (88 US-ton capacity) features a five-section, 141.1-foot main boom, plus a 58.1-foot bi-fold jib. The crane has automatic switching load charts for operation at up to four degrees out-of-level. The level ground charts for Tadano Mantis are for slopes to 1.5 degrees. The GTC-800 boasts the Tadano AML-C rated capacity indicator with OPTI-WIDTH (Tadano Mantis’ system allowing asymmetric track positioning in reduced width configurations), HelloNet Telematics and a Cummins 310hp QSB6.7 Tier 4f engine.The full power, hydraulic boom is designed to perform exceptionally well for lift work, while also being capable of out-of-level, pick-and-carry, and foundation work. The round boom is manufactured specifically for the Tadano Mantis telescopic boom crawler cranes by Tadano Japan. The main boom is complimented with a 33.1 ft./58.1 ft. (10.1m / 17.7m) bi-fold jib that offsets at 3.5°, 25°, and 45°. The maximum lifting height with the jib erected is 198 ft. (60.4m). An optional 8.2 ft. (2.5m) heavy lift jib with a maximum capacity of 23.5 US ton (21.4t) that offsets at 3.5° and 30° is also available. The GTC-800 design project was managed by Tadano Mantis and included collaboration with Tadano, Ltd. in developing the purpose-designed, Tadano built telescopic boom and the integration of Tadano winches, jib, hydraulic cylinders, AML-C and Hello Net telematics. The GTC-800 is CE marked and available for global sales.www.tadano.comLattice crawler craneLink-Belt Construction Equipment recently released its new 250-ton (227-mt) 298 Series 2 lattice crawler crane. The new boom design is the capstone of the 298 Series 2 and allows the working combination boom tip section to remain in place when transitioning from conventional mode to luffer with a maximum combination of 180 ft. (54.8 m) of luffing boom and 195 ft. (59.4 m) of luffing jib. In order to provide quick conversion from conventional style lifting to a luffing configuration, assembly has been simplified with the advent of the following: semi-bore weldments for pin locations; point-of-use storage provisions for all components; and stop bolts for quick pin alignment. A new luffing jib transport package with lifting lugs simplifies and expedites luffer assembly. The rear post will scissor into place by means of alignment links. The transport package also comes assembled with nylon rope reeving to assist with initial luffing jib wire rope hoist reeving. Once the rear post is in working position, all luffing jib pendant connections are made and the luffer is ready to be raised for work. All assembly is done from the ground with no work at height exposure. The 298 Series 2 also features a new base section and 12 in. (30.48 cm) wide boom walkway. Bar pendants with storage brackets replace dual wire rope pendants. A newly designed retractable auxiliary lifting sheave has a capacity of 25-ton (22.67-mt) and offers two parts of line. Conventional boom length will remain the same as the 298 HSL at 60 ft. – 290 ft. (18.2 – 88.39 m). The maximum tip height of boom and jib [250 ft. + 90 ft. (76.2 + 27.43 m)] is 342 ft. 3.2 in. (104.32 m). The 298 Series 2 will come with a Cummins QSL 9 Tier 4 engine. Greater fuel efficiency is just one of the benefits offered with the ECO winch system. When activated by the operator, ECO hoist provides maximum line speed with lighter loads all with the engine under 1,000 RPM. Also, standard equipped is operator-selectable auto-engine shutdown. The crane operator is assisted by an on-board high-resolution rear view camera that helps monitor jobsite conditions. An audio/visual travel alarm system informs crew members on the ground. The RCL monitoring system provides the operator all lift information, is extremely intuitive and allows the operator to set swing and other control parameters creating virtual walls with audio, visual alarms and function kick out. www.linkbelt.comCrawler crane with 715 USt capacityThe Demag CC 3800-1 offers a 650t (715USt) capacity at a radius of 12m (39.4 ft.). Highlights include a load moment of 8484 tm; erection of wind turbines up to 117m hub height without superlift; erection of main boom 114m with 12m LF and hook block mounted, without superlift mast and without assist crane; and erection of wind turbines up to 170m hub height with super lift. It offers best-in-class ergonomics for operators and is suitable for worldwide operation. Optional Boom Booster Kit is available.www.terex.comCrawler crane with 285t capacityTerex Cranes’ HC 285 crawler crane offers a maximum lift capacity of 285 tons. The crane offers power up/down as standard and optional free fall on main and auxiliary drums. It is built with a quiet, comfortable operator’s cab with excellent viewing range. The shockless stop system gradually retards operating speed to reduce shocks when the crane approaches lifting load or boom limits. Two-speed travel allows the operator to select the best speed and power control for any condition. The HC 285 also offers superior transportability with a 10.5-ft width and a 12-ft. height. Its hydraulic counterweight removal system simplifies installation and removal.www.terex.com Demag Demag Kobelco Kobelco LinkBelt LinkBelt Tadano Tadano Terex Terex Liebherr Liebherr   View the embedded image gallery online at: https://www.craneandhoistcanada.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=latest&layout=latest&Itemid=1#sigProGalleria1842e4dd9f

Danfoss Power Solutions has added two high-flow proportional valves to its PVG portfolio, expanding its range of low to high-flow capabilities for OEM customers with demanding applications. The PVG 128 and PVG 256 valves are designed to easily integrate with the existing line of Danfoss high performance proportional valves — PVG 16 and PVG 32 — allowing modularity from low to high hydraulic flow within the same valve stack.

DICA will exhibit several products from its FiberMax, SafetyTech, and ProStack product lines at the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association’s annual conference, April 17 to 21, in Boca Raton, Fla.

Offices with the best view to the city are highly coveted by the executives of large companies.

Terex’s new RT 100US rough terrain crane was designed with specifically to meet customer needs.

Omaha Standard Palfinger is announcing the release of its newest mechanics body, the PAL Pro 20, at North America’s largest work truck event, the NTEA Work Truck Show, from March 7 to 9 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Hiab, the leading on-road load handling provider and part of Cargotec, renowned for HIAB loader cranes, MOFFETT and Princeton truck mounted forklifts and its nationwide service network, announces the launch of MULTILIFT demountables and hooklifts to the U.S. market this week at the Work Truck Show, March 6 to 9, 2018 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Raimondi Cranes SpA, established in 1863, has announced a transformative approach to heavy lifting technology, the luffing jib LR330. Showcased to Raimondi’s exclusive agent network ahead of wider release, the LR330 luffing jib crane will officially begin shipping in March to fulfill agent presell orders, and is now available for wider purchasing. 

During the Crane Rental Association of Canada’s (CRAC) 2017 annual general meeting this past June, Ted Redmond was named the new chairman of CRAC.

When Mike Turnbull was offered the opportunity to join the Crane Rental Association of Canada’s executive board as treasurer and secretary last year, he was more than happy to take on those roles.

Darren Ritchie is a Canadian golf champion and, as of June 2016, a member of the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame. When operating the cranes on job sites with Irving Equipment, however, he says he’s just another guy in a hard hat.

New overhead cranes are key features of the recent expansion project of a New Brunswick heavy equipment attachment maker.

All those forms that employees are filling out aren’t doing a crane company any good if they’re simply placed in a filing cabinet and forgotten, says Adrian Bartha.

Over 100 years ago, Hawboldt Industries was founded in Chester, N.S. At its inception, the company used its foundry to produce equipment and vessels for the cod fishery. However, in the decades since, Hawboldt has evolved with the times and the market. Its most recent evolution: producing marine cranes.

Behaviour is one of the most common denominators for every organizational performance issue. It certainly is when it comes to safety. So often we see repeatedly poor safety performance and there is no sustainable change in behaviour because the focus is on the action and not the behaviour that led to the action. To curb the non-compliant behaviour we discipline without ever realizing what led to the behaviour. This makes it difficult to achieve desired changes in safety performance.

For the first time in more than a decade, tower crane professionals across British Columbia came together for the Tower Crane Industry Safety Conference, hosted by WorkSafeBC at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond, B.C. on March 15, 2018.

Since the federal government announced that it would be decriminalizing marijuana for recreational purposes in July 2018, a mixed reaction has come from the provinces and territories, and across the public and private sectors.

According to the highly recognized Canadian crane safety organizations like the B.C. Association for Crane Safety, the ideal scenario is for crane organizations to establish an employee mindset to proactively engage all workforce members in the creation of a safe work environment.

A successful fleet safety program takes proper planning, communication, time and resources… but in the long run the benefits to your crane company are significant.

When a crane company tries to improve or re-engineer its safety management systems, it has to develop a planning process that will move the organization forward as it changes. This planning process needs to be activity driven … with daily, weekly, and monthly activities defined and consistently executed. Additionally, according to the Canadian Standards Association, effective safety management systems development should include “annual and multi-year planning to ensure an organization’s safety culture is consistently maintained and your overall safety management system is effective in identification and control of hazards and associated risks.”

It seems that the term “excellence” as it applies to risk management in the Canadian crane market commonly is misunderstood and poorly defined.

When the federal government first announced it was doubling down on infrastructure spending in the 2016 Budget - $60 billion in additional funds over 10 years for the construction of new transport and energy systems - one could feel an increase optimismfrom Canada’s construction sector. After all, more money for infrastructure spending should translate into more available contracts for everyone to bid on and create more employment opportunities in the sector, right?Well, so far this appears to be true - at least as far as overall employment numbers in the sector go. According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, November 2017, employment in the construction sector was up 16,000, enjoying its second straight month of gains. But more importantly, that latest boost in employment brought the year-over-year gains in the sector to 50,000 jobs (or an increase of 3.6 per cent). Sounds like the feds’ plan to build employment through infrastructure investment is working, but it may have some issues. An additional $60 billion over 10 years is a lot of money to add to the funds already earmarked for projects, and that additional injection of cash may be creating a bottleneck for getting the funds where they need to go.According to recent articles by various news outlets across the country, the federal government is experiencing delays in getting funding for infrastructure spending out the doors of the federal treasury, about $2.14 billion worth of delays. The articles are based on a report that states that of the $5.3 billion that Infrastructure Canada had planned to spend in its last fiscal year (ended on March 31, 2017), that approximately 40 per cent of those funds were not spent. According to an article by the Toronto Star, about $1.48 billion of the $2.14 billion that was not spent was earmarked for “various large-scale projects, representing about 90 per cent of what the government expected to spend on things like new transit and water systems.” The Liberals argue that they are managing the flow of money to projects (which, of course, is expected of them); while the opposition critics have argued that the frozen funds are symptoms of a larger problem related to the federal government’s long-term infrastructure program. To be fair to the feds, some project delays (and therefore, spending delays) are completely out of their control. Some of the projects they pegged for funding have been delayed due to labour issues and bad weather.And since payment is often not released until projects are completed, the money has nowhere to go. And when projects are completed, the federal government sometimes requires receipts from cities and provinces before releasing funding, which creates additional delays. That said, it sounds like there may be a piece or two missing from the Liberals’ infrastructure program’s spending chain for getting the funding where it needs to go in an efficient manner.With such a significant increase in funding earmarked for projects, perhaps more resources are required at various government levels to get all these receipts where they need to go? Whether its an increase in administrative staff at the municipal, provincial or federal levels, improved software programs for processing receipts, or an overhaul of the entire workflow processes for funding releases, the federal government may need to figure out quicker methods to get the money in the hands of the right people so it can hit its spending targets.Despite the slower pace to the release of funds, the feds’ infrastructure plan does appear to be helping the construction sector’s employment levels move in the right direction. And if the employment levels are moving in the right direction, then contracts are being awarded. And if contracts are being awarded, then the equipment purchase orders and rental orders are being submitted.Here’s to a prosperous 2018.

One the most startling revelations for a Canadian visitor to ConExpo-Con/Agg in Las Vegas this March was just how optimistic Americans we spoke with are about the new presidential administration in the U.S.

The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has profound impacts for Canada’s economy. That’s because this country’s economic health depends heavily on trade.

It’s great that after over two years of work by the non-profit Asia Pacific Skills Table, and an infusion of nearly $800,000 in taxpayer money, a national demonstration of skills tests for mobile crane operators is ready to be put into action.

Something had to give with Vancouver’s overheated housing market. With the price of the average home soaring above $1.5 million, the B.C. government has imposed a 15 per cent surtax on buyers from outside Canada. Foreign buyers, especially those from mainland China, have been widely blamed for feeding the frenzied price increases.

The wildfire that struck Fort McMurray Alberta in early May and forced the evacuation of the entire city of nearly 90,000 people caught the world’s attention.

Nobody needs to be reminded that Canada’s economy is facing serious challenges. Nowhere are these challenges felt more severely at present than in Alberta.

Safety in heavy lifting has been a recurring theme for straight years now at the annual Crane & Rigging Conference Canada in Edmonton.

It’s difficult, if not impossible to predict the future. Well, astronomers can predict with great accuracy the timing of eclipses. But prognosticators in most other areas of human endeavor are about as accurate as astrologers.

The Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA) is now accepting applications for its Civil Engineering and Civil Technology Scholarships.

Cranes are essential for large-scale construction projects in Canada, providing lifting power that makes the construction of roads, big buildings, and other major projects possible. Crane injuries and deaths happen in unfortunately high numbers each year, and almost all are preventable. 

Konecranes Training Institute has raised the level of its game in a major way with a move from the original location of 43 years to a new 13,000-square-foot facility adjacent to Konecranes service branch in New Berlin, Wis. Konecranes also has its nuclear and modernization groups located nearby.

The Crane Certification Association of America will hold its annual educational conference from March 18 to 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 2018 Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association (SC&RA) Annual Conference will be held at the Boca Raton Resort in Boca Raton, Fla. from April 17 to 21 and is predicted to attract hundreds of the industry’s leading owners, CEOs and top managers.

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) drew more than 630 attendees to Kansas City, Mo. for the SC&RA’s 40th annual Crane & Rigging Workshop, which took place at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center.

Leavitt Machinery has acquired Alberta-based training company Crane Safety Limited. A representative for Leavitt says that the purchase, which was made official June 1, 2017, brings more expertise to their offerings.

Finishing touches have been put on a new tower crane and six-storey steel support structure at the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) campus in Oakville, Ont.