Leading Adelaide crane hire business Fleurieu Cranes recently added two Tadano AC220.5 220T capacity Tadano all terrains to their fleet – taking their fleet of AC220.5’s to a total of three.
Fleurieu Cranes has always operated a wide variety of Tadano cranes in their fleet and the latest additions were ordered as a result of their performance. Cesar Federici, Business Development explains more.Fleurieu Cranes is a family owned and run business which started operations in 2005 when the three founders believed there was a gap in the South Australian crane market. They could see the opportunity for a company with sincere focus on delivering complex projects and turnkey solutions for clients.
Initially based in Macclesfield, the business moved to a purpose-built depot in Wingfield to accommodate the fast growth of the business. Federici explains the typical profile of a Fleurieu client.
“Typically, our clients understand the value Fleurieu Cranes brings to their project through our expertise, experience and value-add services such as our dedicated Health Safety Environment and Quality team, along with our in-house Lift Engineering Department, and the industry knowledge which comes with 10 plus supervisors,” he said.
Federici goes on to discuss the make-up of the Fleurieu Cranes fleet.
“Because we have such a broad range of clients operating in numerous industry sectors, our crane fleet is broad and varied. Our fleet capacity starts at 3t and goes all the way up to 400t. We operate a large range of pick-and-carry cranes, including a 40t capacity AT40 – which was the first in South Australia. We also operate city cranes, truck mounted cranes with capacities between 30t and 60t, mini crawlers, a large range of all terrains up to 400t capacity, vehicle loading cranes, telehandlers and elevated work platforms,” he said.
Fleurieu Cranes has had long and ongoing relationships with all major crane brands and suppliers in Australia, including Tadano explains Federici
“We have always operated Tadano city class cranes and truck mounted cranes, but we recently invested heavily in the Tadano all-terrain range – specifically the AC220-5 which is now the Tadano AC 5.220L-1.
“After purchasing our first AC2200-5 and operating it for close to a year we realised just how flexible the crane is. The long-boom 5-axle combination means that we can achieve 24hr travel in South Australia, and there are not many jobs that the AC220-5 can’t do. We then proceeded to order an additional two Tadano AC 5.220L-1. due to the increased demand for this class and size of crane in the market. The cranes operate long hours and are proving to be very reliable cranes,” he said.
“The Tadano AC 5.220L-1s have performed on a wide range of projects since being added to the Fleurieu Cranes fleet. Jobs have varied from medium and large commercial projects around town to large infrastructure projects as well as mining and resources activities.
“Our operators really enjoy the AC220’s – they are comfortable to operate in, have intuitive systems and are safe to access and egress. Tadano has been very supportive of any queries or requests from our team. The support has come from their workshop and maintenance team and also their Engineering department. In every instance, they have been responsive and thorough with their support.
The five axle Tadano AC 5.220L-1 – formerly the Demag AC 220-5 – features an eight section 78 metre main boom plus an 11.4m to 27m bi-fold swing away extension for a maximum tip height of 102 metres.
Federici explains how the nature of the work influences the make-up of the fleet.
“Demand and growth in particular industries influences our buying strategy relating to the new cranes coming into the fleet. When selecting new cranes for our fleet we look for a best-in-class solution. Our operations, workshop and engineering teams are always involved in new crane purchase decisions – ensuring new cranes are able to service existing and future projects and clients. We run a mixed fleet which includes the following brands,”
Comedil
Tadano Demag
Grove
Kato
Liebherr
Manitowoc
Maeda
Potain
Tadano
Terex
TRT
Fleurieu Cranes services clients operating in a broad range of industry sectors including large infrastructure projects both road and rail, the renewable energy sector including the construction and maintenance of wind farms. They also service utilities, general projects, shutdowns in the mining and resources sector, large commercial projects, machinery removal/relocation, and steel erection.
“Typically, our clients are Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies with over 80% of our clients being existing or returning customers. There are a number of clients with whom we have been working for over a decade,” said Federici.
“We cover all of South Australia, Country New South Wales, Country Victoria and the Southern parts of the Northern Territory. We place a high emphasis on customer service and satisfaction, but safety always comes first,” he said.
Fleurieu Cranes employs 10 Site Supervisors each of whom conduct preliminary site inspections for each project. They take back the vital information relating to the site and the project and feed the lift and site safety information to both our HSEQ team and our Lift Engineering team. Operators are then given all the required lift documentation as well as site-specific HSEQ documentation prior to arriving on site. This ensures they are prepared for the job.
“We visit every site before the lift, this is one of the added values we provide to our clients. A Site Supervisor is assigned to all jobs booked into our system. Our Site Supervisors collate the site visit information and drawings supplied by our clients and relay this information to our Lift Engineering Team. This team then produces Lift Plans and Lift Studies for Supervisor & Client final review – prior to being assigned to the job file. We utilise both OEM issued and 3rd Party software to input crane parameters into our Lift Plans/Studies – such as KranXpert, CraniMax, AutoCAD, Demag Lift Planner and LICCON,” said Federici.
Fleurieu Cranes employs over 100 South Australians, all with different levels of skill and experience in the crane industry.
“Our Operators and Riggers are extremely loyal to our company and understand the importance of a ‘Safety First’ culture.
“We strongly believe that Fleurieu Cranes is a great place to work. This can be seen through some of the demographics of our crane operators and riggers where we have three sets of Father and son teams, one Father and daughter team and one pair of siblings in the company.
“If we didn’t truly operate with a ‘Safety First’ company culture, we believe we wouldn’t see these types of demographics given the high-risk nature of the work we perform in the crane industry,” said Federici.