Industry News

Following a brief break from the rental market, Gleason Cranes is back with new units in the fleet and new Zoomlion telescopic crawlers to be added. Johno Wood from the Gleason Cranes Sales Department explains more.

“After a short hiatus from the rental market Gleason Cranes are back. We have made new additions to the fleet including a Maeda 275 and a Kobelco F50. Obviously, these are smaller capacity machines but we have been carefully watching the hire market and we can see there’s a niche for mini crane hire.

“We have been talking to smaller contractors who don’t necessarily want or need to own their own crane, but they do have frequent requirements for small capacity cranes including mini crawler spider. The cranes are ideal for maintenance work and lifts on construction sites where they are ideal for lifts in tight and ‘hard to get to’ areas,” said Wood.

Gleason Cranes is happy to offer a range of rental periods including ‘rent to buy’ options says Wood.

“We are flexible with our hire and rental terms. We are happy to talk about short or long terms packages and all our cranes come with our commitment to service, support and maintenance. Recently, our client Hallberg Pty Ltd hired a Maeda 355C. After a minor incident on site, we had the machine back in our workshop on the same day and returned it to site the next morning ready to work. Our ability to respond quickly to this incident resulted in no lost time on site,” he said.

Gleason Cranes has full workshop capabilities to service, repair, inspect all types of cranes and equipment. All repairs and services are fully documented, and appropriate paperwork issued upon completion.

“It’s important that our hire fleet is well maintained and ready to go to site. Between rentals, the crane is returned to our and qualified team test and service the equipment to ensure it is ready for the next job.

“Servicing and maintaining equipment is a major issue for our clients and we are very happy to work in with their schedules to service and maintain their equipment ensuring there is minimal downtime. This service is designed to make life easier for the client and they can confident that this service comes with high quality work,” he said.

“Crane repairs and crane servicing is undertaken at our Keysborough workshop where we have all the required infrastructure tom complete significant works. But we can also send our mechanics to the client’s yard or to site. We are very flexible. We are happy to work on one off crane repairs and we are happy to arrange ongoing crane servicing. Whatever works best for the client,” said Wood.

Gleason Cranes is also making some important additions to the hire fleet to address the market’s growing demand for hydraulic telescopic boom crawlers says Wood. Although hydraulic telescopic crawler cranes, commonly known as telecrawlers, have been around for close to 60 years, it is only within the past decade that they’ve become increasingly popular on a multitude of job sites, he says.

“Gleason Cranes are in the process of bringing in models from the new Zoomlion ZCT series of hydraulic telescopic boom crawlers or telecrawlers. Again, our research has identified a strong demand for telecrawlers in the market. We are planning plans to bring in a five sectioned boom telecrawlers with 30t, 60t and 90t capacities,” he said.

Advancing technology has made telecrawler extremely versatile and more popular than ever says Wood.

“The footprints of telecrawlers have been getting more narrow, improved technology has made the boom stronger and lighter, and transportability has improved. They have evolved into powerful, agile machines,” he said.

“Telecrawlers combine the mobility and stability of a crawler crane with the advantages of the quick set up inherent in telescopic all-terrain or rough-terrain crane. Like lattice boom cranes, telecrawlers exhibit high manoeuvrability, but require no space or time on-site to build the boom,” said Wood.

“Telecrawlers become indispensable on work sites where a rough-terrain or all-terrain crane can’t go, or on a site that a conventional crawler crane utilising flat pads can’t navigate. They are popular where ground conditions are poor and lift sites can be far apart. After experiencing the versatility of a telecrawler, many clients have told me they’ll never use any other kind of crane,” he said.

“The Zoomlion ZCT series showcases exceptional lifting capacities and after extensive comparisons with some of its strongest competitors, the ZCT series has been seen to outlift many other brands in the same class. With a growing demand for telecrawlers, we are confident the market will be impressed with the performance of the new Zoomlion ZCT series and the value for money it presents,” said Wood.