58
SC&RANEWS
INTERNATIONAL ANDSPECIALIZED TRANSPORT
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MARCH 2015
world, themore often its “politicalmasters”
will come to understand the importance
of the industry to the wider economy. “If
they understand that, hopefully they will
be more prepared to assist us with the
issues we face – whether that is the need
for greater harmonisation of standards,
simpler regulatory systems, or help in
recruiting more and better qualified
youngsters into the industry.
“And by developing and focusing on
best practiceworldwide, wewill also find it
easier to convince clients that the cheapest
price is not always the best – and certainly
not always the safest.”
Jonathan Bhana-Thomson, New
Zealand Heavy Haulage Association chief
executive, sees a huge benefit to having
the Alliance work for member companies
around the world. “The Alliance has been
useful in the way that it has opened the
doors across geographical boundaries,
which allows us to share and collaborate on
informationbetweenAllianceparties.
“To me, the most tangible benefits are
the direct links that have been opened
up between the various industry bodies,
knowing that they are but a phone call or
e-mail away, and that the responsewill be a
positiveone,willing to assist.”
Bill Stramer at Link-Belt is the past
director of CRAC. He feels that longer-
term targets of standardisation of crane-
related regulations, and, or, standards,
are impossible to achieve unless there
is structure in place to facilitate such
conversations. “The basic idea of
organisations from around the world
developing a forum to discuss their
issues and exchange ideas is a significant
achievement by itself and the World
Crane and Transport Alliance provides
this forum.
“One of the original objectives of
the Alliance was the exchange of ‘best
practices’ by crane-related associations
from around the world. I believe the
exchange of these best practices is ongoing,
and is paving the way for a safer, more
standardised industry.”
Recruiting the best
Looking to current trends andpriorities,
Klijn sees an agingworkforce as a key area
of importance. “Thismeans that the issue
of training, certification, and recruitment
is going tobe at least as important in the
coming year. Just how arewe going to
recruit the best andbrightest youngsters
into the industry?This is a question
that is crucial toour future success – as
equipment and technologies become ever
more complex.”
This is an area where Europe could
learn a lot from the USA and the work
of the National Commission for the
Certification of Crane Operators
(NCCCO) – and vice-versa – according to
Klijn. “ESTA’s work to develop a European
Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) is
an important development, but there is
an awful lot of work to be done. On a
separate subject, and from a European and
transportation perspective, we would also
like to see a body representing the interests
of the trailer manufacturers, which
ESTA feels would make developing new
heavy transportation best practice guides
much easier.”
Bhana-Thomson sees a need to engage
a younger workforce, as well as managing
the balance between health and safety, as
top priorities for 2015 and beyond. “While
industry experience is a very valuable
commodity – at the same time, we need to
bring in younger workers to come through
the ranks to gain experience and become
tomorrow’smanagers andbusinessowners.
“These younger people are coming
into a work environment where there is
an increasing emphasis on the health and
safety of workers, and the systems in place
to prevent harm. This comes at a cost,
however, and the aim that safety should
come at a reasonable cost is one that needs
to be faced. Alliance members can draw
strength from the work done by others in
thegroup to address these issues.”
Dominici stresses the importance of
putting the right people in the right roles
of responsibility – but ultimately sees cause
for optimism. “Recruiting, capacitating,
and retaining are the challenge of our
sector. The impacts affect directly any
transportation and crane companies
– and how to face this is certainly a big
challenge – but also a key opportunity for
ourAlliance.”
New projects
Klijn sees workload as the key issue in
Europe at the moment. “As a continent,
we are still struggling to come out of the
global recession. When you combine
that economic fragility with the unstable
oil price and the political uncertainties
surrounding the European Union, there
are concerns that clients might delay
investment innewprojects.”
Bhana-Thomson, however, finds hope
in greater pre-fabrication of construction
components. “It means that there will be
a strong pipeline of work coming through
in years to come. However, this does
place a large emphasis on provision and
maintenance of suitable transport routes to
enable movement of large loads efficiently
andwithout torturousdetours.
“The other aspect of this is the
efficiency of permitting regimes used by
the various regulatory authorities. With
the safety management systems utilised
by transport operators, there is a greater
ability for regulatory and infrastructure
bodies to rely on these to trust operators
to achieve good outcomes, and to do so
within an infrastructure network that is
preserved. Iwould like to see greatermoves
towards self-permittingwithin a regulatory
framework that enhances the efficiency of
the whole process, rather than hinder it.
AsAlliancemembers, we canpush towards
this as a group, knowing that this is
an aim we could strive for together,”
Bhana-Thomson concludes.
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Training, certificationand recruitment is an important and topical subject in the industry
