General Crane Lays Groundwork for Gulf Coast Growth with Major Equipment Purchases

September 7, 2006 • “Strike while the iron's hot” seems to be the philosophy of General Crane of Pompano Beach, Fla. The company sees no better time than now to grow its business by leaps and bounds • or tower cranes and ATs. Putting in orders for 60 Linden-Comansa America Tower cranes, 15 Liebherr all-terrain cranes, and five Liebherr Nenzing luffing crawlers, the company is laying the groundwork for major territorial growth.

 

“We've also purchased several Grove cranes and personnel and material hoisting equipment from Alimak,” says Jim Robertson, managing partner.

 

“Some people might say the economy's going in the other direction, but we feel it's time for us to grow, time to expand,” he says. The company has been nearly exclusive to south Florida because of the recent boom in construction there “and because we're hometown boys,” he says, explaining that General Crane USA offers turnkey services, including trucking, crane erection, and crew. The goal is to take those services as a total package to other areas.

 

“We'll be available to the Gulf Coast market,” says Robertson. “We're posturing for all the way to Louisiana and Mississippi, if we have to.”

 

The Linden-Comansa crane purchases were made to add to the company's growing tower crane division. With five companies in the family, General Crane already has a fleet of 51 tower cranes, and Linden-Comansa is its brand of choice.

 

While it's difficult to earmark them when they aren't in house yet, many of the newly purchased tower cranes are already slotted for certain projects. Others, says Robertson, will be part of the company's dealer stock and will be rented or sold. The manufacturer will deliver two tower cranes a month until the order is completed. “We wanted to get as much manufacturing designated as possible so we can control our growth,” he says.

 

With the purchase of the Liebherr all-terrain cranes, General Crane can erect its tower cranes faster and more efficiently. Slated for in-house use only, they'll be put to work erecting the Linden-Comansa machines or will be rented out. Some of the Liebherrs “are big ones for Florida,” says Robertson, who adds the company purchased the first LTR 1100 model featuring a telescopic boom on crawlers. “It offers lots of options that'll allow us to do some unique stuff,” he says. “The biggest AT crane we have now is the LTM 1300, which is a 365-ton. We were looking to get larger cranes, and now we'll have two more, with the LTM 1400 and LTM 1500 as part of the Liebherr order.”

 

Although the purchase exhausts the balance of the manufacturer's U.S. allocations through 2007 for certain models, Liebherr still has cranes for sale, says Ingo Schiller, Vice President of Sales for Liebherr Cranes Inc., Newport News, Va. General Crane “has purchased for some models the rest of the allocation for 2007, but not everything we have,” he says. “We still have unsold cranes allocated to the U.S. in 2007.”

 

Citing this as a large order for both manufacturer and customer, Schiller says the cranes will start arriving at General Crane at the end of this year and delivery will be completed next year.

 

From Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co., in Houston, Texas, General Crane has purchased five 250-ton to 300-ton luffing crawlers, which will also go into the company's rental fleet. “There's always a need for them,” says Robertson. “We build precast parking garages and tilt-up structures, and they work in both those types of construction projects as well as in industrial applications.”

 

The company's machines can be found on the jobsite of medical complexes, commercial office buildings, high-rise condos, and sports stadiums. When asked why the company is committed to these particular brands, Robertson says, “Liebherr? That's easy • It's by far, in our opinion, the most quality AT crane made. And we've had the Lindens for years. We like the flat-top modular system. It's safe to erect, and the lines speeds and capacities are very impressive.”

 

The mega purchase doubles the General Crane family fleet, including those of Hunter Cranes, Merchant Transport and Cranes, and Republic Tower and Hoist in Las Vegas. “We've been here, people know us, but we're very low-key,” says Robertson. “We've stayed under the radar—but that's all about to change.”