With 160 locations throughout Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia and an appetite for major projects, Qube Heavy Lift is a player to watch. Garry Kearney, General Manager at Qube, walks us through how the rebranding is going, the company’s key market focus and an insight into Qube’s sustainability ambitions.
LCR, a crane and transport company dating back to the 80’s, has been reborn under the Qube Holdings Banner. Through the acquisition of the LCR brand, Qube now delivers enhanced broad spectrum industrial services to customers, expanding its reach and dominance within the logistics market.
As Australia’s largest integrated provider of import and export logistics services, Qube understands that versatility and adaptability in the market are critical for growth and longevity, Garry says.
“Acquiring and rebranding LCR allows us to align with our goal of providing a full end-to-end service package within key markets such as renewable energy,” he adds.
“Our Heavy Lift Team now provides the specialised transport and craneage scope that complements our port, stevedoring, storage and distribution services – allowing us to provide the first true end-to-end project service offering within the Australian market.”
Qube Heavy Lift’s project services extend across Australia and Papua New Guinea. Service locations also include general hire crane facilities located in Brisbane (QLD), Chinchilla (QLD), Port Moresby (PNG) and Lae (PNG).
As part of its renewable energy project focus, Qube Heavy Lift has also establihed Australia’s first purpose-built renewable energy storage facility known as the “Qube Renewables Hub” at the Port of Brisbane (QLD).
“Whilst we continue our focus on end-to-end renewable energy services, we are also committed to sustaining a market share in other sectors such as construction, infrastructure, power transmission and mining,” Garry says.
“Our specialised transport equipment and cranage fleet will continue to grow and develop to align with market requirements”.
The Heavy Lift Team regularly deals with the enterprises and organisations that form Qube’s client and stakeholder basis, and when it comes to dealing with the change in structure, he insists there have been “no issues”.
While Qube first acquired LCR in 2019, the official rebrand to Qube only commenced in May this year, with Garry saying all company assets – in terms of cranes, trucks, trailers and other machines – would be rebranded within the next 12 months.
“We want this to be a positive experience for everybody, including our employees that have been a part of the LCR brand for years,” he says.
“We want them to be proud to put on that uniform that reads Qube and wear it with as much pride as before. It’s about us creating an environment whereby everybody feels that they have more opportunities to thrive than ever before”.
“Change when conducted correctly is beneficial to all parties,” he adds.
“Our clients and stakeholders are happy and excited to see how the LCR legacy will develop into the future and go from strength to strength under the Qube namesake.”
Garry says these stakeholders understand the benefits that come from the integration of the companies, which include their larger and more robust service offering.
“Whilst the extended service offerings of the Qube brand were previously available to clients and stakeholders under the LCR name, there was a mindset that it was two separate companies,” he says.
“Now we can focus on promoting and selling ourselves under the one brand name, leaving no doubt in anybody’s minds about the extent of our capabilities and our willingness to lead the market.”
As for the internal changes occurring, Garry adds that having people of varying experiences in their working backgrounds adds a level of professional diversity within the company. “Diversity within our business is the key to driving innovation and expanding the skillsets we have to offer our client basis,” he says.
Qube Heavy Lift is currently operating a fleet of 84 cranes across its project services and general hire operations, including the Demag AC-1000-9: 1200t capacity crane – the largest all-terrain crane on the east coast of Australia.
The fleet also includes a range of all-terrain cranes (60t-1200t), Franna cranes, truck mounted cranes and hydraulic crawler cranes. Services also extend to project specific transport equipment including jinker and bolster set ups for infrastructure works, heavy transport trailers and modular style trailers.
Speaking about the supply of cranes in Qube’s fleet, Garry says the company has “a solid working relationship with key OEMs that are keen to support our growing business operations”.
“They understand our business and our business goals and are aligning themselves to provide the equipment we require to achieve those. They also understand the rate at which Qube Heavy Lift is capable of expanding and want to be a part of the journey with us,” he says.
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The newest fleet purchases include some Tadano GTC-2000 telescopic crawler cranes as well as the new era wing max blade trailers, which were bought to expand Qube’s transport capabilities within the renewable sector.
Garry says Qube Heavy Lift’s goals are simple – to be the leading provider of integrated crane and specialised transport solutions within the Australian and PNG markets.
“To be a leading provider within our industry we are also conscious that we need to lead by example in terms of sustainability and environmental impact, ensuring we are leaving a positive mark on our surrounding communities”.
With a key focus by government and clients on sustainability, Qube has developed a roadmap towards decarbonisation ahead of industry. This includes electrification of MHE, trucks and mining equipment within the Qube brand and clear goals towards emission and energy reduction.
As the Qube brand continues to grow into the future, the Heavy Lift Team is committed to providing an innovative and diverse service offering, including both customised and turnkey end-to-end lifting and transport solutions to all sectors.
