August 2008 International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine editor's comment

Welcome to the annual IC special issue for the specialized transport industry. Our Transport 50 listing of companies with the world's largest fleets of specialized and modular trailers is now in its fourth incarnation and is growing steadily as momentum gathers.

An impressive showing of 11 new entries from around the world indicates healthy interest in the T50 and is an encouraging sign to boost further development. Having hit the target of 50 companies last year, we now have 61, putting us on course to reach 100 companies by 2010.

If your company is not in the T50 and you would like it to be, please let me know so that we can send you an entry form for next year and see if your company will be eligible for the listing.

Another highlight of this August issue is the feature on offshore lifting. While much of it is about the often-spectacular projects carried out offshore, it is also interesting from a safety and operations point of view. Standards and procedures for offshore applications are almost invariably more stringent than those for onshore lifting. Applying elements from offshore in land-based operations can be a quick and efficient way to help increase safety by making use of something where the work has already been done.

It makes sense for a myriad of reasons, from resources and cost points of view, among many others, to avoid duplication of effort wherever possible. Learn from one industry, often from its mistakes, and apply that learning to your area. The level of knowledge and experience can be increased immeasurably just by listening to others. Extra resources may be unnecessary but you could be forgiven for not realising that fact when you think about the vast numbers of people who just insist on having to discover everything for themselves.