Paris in pictures

Abuoyant market meant an upbeat mood prevailed among visitors and exhibitors at this year's big show for the industry. Attendance figures from the organisers of this year's Intermat exhibition in Paris at the end of April show a total of 209,032 visitors, a 16% increase from the last show in 2003. International visitors were 45% of the total, 21% up on the previous show.

Some surprises added to the excitement of seeing an already impressive number of new cranes on show for the first time. Highlights included the announcement of four axle 100 tonne capacity all terrains from Grove and Terex-Demag (see News). The new Terex TC 60L truck crane (originally designated TC 55) was also on show for the first time (see News). Making its international debut was Liebherr's LTM 1200-5.1, a five axle 200 tonne capacity wheeled mobile with 72 m telescopic boom.

Dominating the skyline was a proliferation of lattice crawler booms, especially the Manitowoc 16000, the new Hitachi Sumitomo SCX2800-2 and the new Kobelco CKE 2500-2. Tower cranes included Liebherr's new EC-B series of flat tops from 50 to 280 tonne-metres and units from Potain, Raimondi and Terex- Comedil. An interesting newcomer was the articulating jib Cobra from Switzerland, shown in model form.