Essex spends $20 million at Manitowoc

US crane rental house Essex Crane Rental Corp has ordered several Manitowoc Model 16000 and 14000 lattice boom crawler cranes. The $20 million deal was announced at Manitowoc's ConExpo booth 13 March. Deliveries start later this year and will continue into 2009.

The 450 tonne capacity Model 16000 is the largest crane that Essex will bare rent. “The exciting thing is that we did a lot of evaluation on the 16000,” explained Ron Schad, Essex president (pictured).

“Our goal is to avoid concentrations in any one market. We want to serve a broad customer base,” Schad continued. The 450 tonne class has been considered as a wind turbine erection market but customers are now saying that there is a wider field of application, especially with a luffing jib. The cranes ordered will have luffers.

Essex is reducing its fleet below 150 tonnes and reinvesting the revenue in cranes above 200 tonnes capacity.

Essex will be bought by Hyde Park Acquisition Corp in a US$210 million deal. Commenting on the acquisition Schad said that the management is excited about it and is investing in the business. “It gives us an opportunity to grow the business. There are opportunities to expand globally and/or into other product lines.”