...and Middle East crawler demand takes a leap

Hitachi Sumitomo has said it will increase its annual production of crawler cranes to 420 units from 310 by the end of fiscal 2006, due to demand from the Middle East. The company has received 73 orders from the region since October 2005 compared with less than 10 a year, previously.

As a result Hitachi Sumitomo told the Japanese stock market it is investing Yen 2 billion (US$76 million) to expand the Nagoya plant by 20%, increasing its size from 46,000 m² to 54,000 m².

Some production will be moved to Nagoya from the company's other factory at Tsuchiura and a further 80 staff will be taken on to bring the workforce at Nagoya to 350.

• For more on the Middle East market, see the Market hotspots feature in the February 2006 issue of International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine.