32
ACT
NOVEMBER 2013
PRODUCT FOCUS
TOWER CRANES
to an existing 20-story
building.
Demelo says the
HCL355 was erected
on seven HC500
tower sections. The
climb consisted of
adding two HC500
towers, installing tie-
ins at level nine of the
building, then adding one more HC500
tower, thus adding 72-feet of height to the
original elevation of the structure.
“We were in the market for a new luffing
crane and decided on the HCL355 due
to its good capacity,” Demelo says. “The
crane is lifting formwork and steel. It is
the lifeline of that project due to the tight
quarters it is in, surrounded by higher
buildings.”
Demelo says he has seen demand for
larger, faster machines in the market.
“Tower crane manufacturers have
designed and built larger capacity
machines with higher free-stand heights,”
he says. “That is attractive to our
commercial clients as there are less tie-
ins and therefore less interference with
the structure. Manufacturers have also
updated the electric components, and PLC
technology allows for much better levels of
safety and redundancy.”
Oxford Builders Supplies expects its
utilization rate to be around 85 percent for
the next 18 months.
The company has also completed a
number of other projects, including the
expansion of the Calgary Airport, which
had six tower cranes working. Four of the
tower cranes were SK575s with 32-ton
capacities and 262-foot (80-meter) jibs.
Demelo says these cranes were chosen due
to the large area that needed to be covered,
as well as the capacity requirements of
formwork and steel erection.
Oxford Builders Supplies also recently
had six tower cranes on a hospital jobsite
in Oakville,
Ontario. A mix
of SK351 and SK415
cranes helped erect a four-story
building which required the cranes
to access complete concrete structures.
“We required cranes with good capacity
for formwork operations and a long jib,”
Demelo says. “Therefore we decided
on three SK315s and three SK415s with
various heights and jib lengths.”
Bright spots
Carbeau at Linden Comansa America says
that while the increase in crane sales will
be gradual, the next two years will provide
bright spots.
“Used cranes over the past several
years that were grounded because of
few projects or because of bankruptcies
have been resold and relocated within
the U.S. or moved out of the country,” he
says. “This process is now slowing as the
number of available cranes has decreased,
and demand for them is starting to
increase. For these reasons we see a
brighter future in North America and an
opportunity for new crane sales. Look for
a slow increase in this market at least for
the next two years.”
In that time frame, Carbeau says changes
will come afoot in the tower crane arena,
such as projects that require larger cranes
in both the horizontal and luffing range
and niche markets including residential
markets where city cranes will complete
lifting jobs. These new areas could
therefore result in new equipment.
“We at Linden Comansa and Linden
Comansa America are always developing
new products,” Carbeau says. “Linden
Comansa is the original flat-top
manufacturer going back over 40 years
since the original flat-top design. Our
product line has always been expanding in
many areas.”
The company strives toward
manufacturing newer and larger sizes of
flat-top tower cranes; new technology such
as its “Effi Plus” that allowed increased line
speed using frequency drive technology;
Pictured is a Potain
MDT 178 tower crane.
Linden Comansa sees an increase in activity
in tower crane sales in North America.
Pictured here are some of the company’s
tower cranes working at a ship yard.
