World Crane Championship 2016

Hiab, part of Cargotec, is preparing for the second ever World Crane Championship finals, which will be held at the IAA Exhibition in Hanover, Germany on 25 September.

Johnny Jensen was the 2015 winner with a time of 2 minutes 18 seconds.

Sebastian Poccard, Hiab's senior vice president for sales and service, said, “The World Crane Championship is back and bigger than ever: hundreds of skilled operators have been taking part in the qualification rounds around the world. I expect the finals to be very tough, as the most skilled operators around the world come together to compete with our fantastic Hiab cranes.”

Qualification rounds are going on to determine the best crane operators from 16 different countries. To qualify, contestants must manoeuvre a Hiab crane equipped with the HiPro steering system through a series of obstacles, trying to arrive at a best possible time. In Hanover, the finalists get to operate a Hiab X-HiPro 232, which is being launched during the IAA exhibition.

The winner of the finals takes away a €5,000 (US$ 5,496) travel cheque and €20,000 ($ 21,983) towards the purchase of a new Hiab crane - plus the title of World Crane Champion 2016.

The qualification tour started in mid-January and will run until the IAA exhibition.

Tim Hansen, who is representing Denmark, has already broken 2015 winner Johnny Jensen's record at the qualifications with his time of 1 minute 36 seconds. He is only 25 years old, but as a son of a carrier, he has been close to cranes all his life, Hiab said.

He said, “I can't wait for the finals! I have been running my one man company Tim S. Hansen ApS since 2010, and it would be great to win to get a new Hiab crane.”

Robert Zamprogno at Rega Constructions comes to the finals all the way from Australia. “The track was difficult when managing the precision and time set by other competitors. The atmosphere at the qualifications was intense, competitors were all great drivers - managing the atmosphere and pressure was the key to winning.”

Guido Beaujean from H.J Beaujean B.V. represents the Netherlands in the finals for the second time. He took part in the first ever World Crane Championships in 2015, arriving then at fourth place.