The first draft of new best practice guidelines for the safe transportation and erection of onshore wind turbines could be published before the end of January. The news follows the latest round of discussions between ESTA and the wind turbine manufacturers in Hamburg at the end of November. Go to ESTA News for more.

Members of ESTA’s European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) working group have reached agreement on one of the most important outstanding issues – how to set a standard for experienced operators without forcing them to completely retrain. Go to ESTA News for more

The latest meeting of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly (ICSA)  has taken place in Melbourne, Australia. Issues discussed included safety during the construction of wind farms, working with cranes on barges and crane manufacturing standards. Go to ESTA News for more.

Crane companies are being asked to complete a short, anonymous survey on the state of the market. Organised by International Cranes and Specialized Transport (ICST) magazine, the annual international survey is intended to present a picture of the global crane rental market – both where it stands and where it is heading. The results will be published in the New Year. Go to ESTA News for more information.

ESTA is very sorry to announce that our good friend and colleague Gunnar Mardon died on October 2 following a stroke. Gunnar was Chief Executive Officer of Canada’s National Occupational Council and sat on ESTA’s European Crane Operators Licence working group. 

See Gunnar Mardon’s obituary in ESTA News

Leading equipment manufacturer Liebherr has agreed to become an approved training centre for ESTA’s planned European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) after talks between the two organisations in August.  The decision is a big boost for the ECOL project as it goes through its final testing before going live early in 2019.

Go to ESTA News for more details

ESTA is “cautiously optimistic” about workload prospects in the European crane rental sector as public finances continue to improve after the 2008 crash. Recent European construction industry forecasts have been positive for almost all sectors from commercial building to energy, water, and transport and economists say that bodes well for the industry in the short and medium terms.

Go to ESTA News for more details

ESTA Director Ton Klijn has been appointed to the lifting appliances committee NEN 345002 “Hijswerktuigen” of the Dutch standards institute (NEN). Through this role, Klijn will be able to sit on behalf of ESTA on the European standards committee CEN/TC 147, alongside the major crane manufacturers and regulatory authorities. Go to ESTA News for more information

Bulgaria’s heavy transport association has joined ESTA as the association’s expansion in Eastern Europe continues. NSPIT - the Bulgarian Association for the Transportation of Oversized Cargoes – was formed in 2015 as part of the industry’s attempts to update the country’s regulations governing heavy transport. Go to ESTA News for more information

ESTA is planning to relaunch its campaign to persuade EU member states to adopt the European Best Practice Guidelines for Abnormal Road Transport, first published in a European Commission Transport Directive back in 2005.  Crucially, the directive contains SERT, the Special European Registration for Trucks and Trailers, intended to reduce the paperwork and bureaucracy faced by the industry. Further details of the new moves will be announced soon. Go to ESTA News for more information.

The first trial of the new European Crane Operators Licence scheme has been successfully completed at Mammoet’s training centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The ECOL organisers now intend to run three more pilot projects, one more in the Netherlands plus one each in Denmark and Italy. 

The Gino Koster Personality of the Year Award for 2018 was awarded posthumously to Benny Sarens, who died suddenly in December 2017. It was presented to Carl Sarens at the 2018 ESTA Awards ceremony in Paris at the end of April. 

Benny Sarens started working at Sarens in 1972 and built up the technical solutions department of the Belgium-based family-owned business. He was instrumental in developing a world class technical team of experienced problem solvers, capable of designing and executing the most challenging engineered lifting projects. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn is calling on European training organisations to send in their training schemes so that they can be validated against ECOL standards. “The idea is to compare all of the national training schemes and to identify what is needed – if anything – for them to comply with ECOL standards,” Klijn explained.

Pressure is growing on the European Union and national transport authorities to agree heavy transport corridors throughout Europe in the wake of increasing concerns about deteriorating infrastructure and unnecessary bureaucracy.

The issue – and the related problem of obtaining permits from local regulators - dominated discussions at last month’s meeting in Paris of ESTA’s transport section.

ESTA has applied to have the ECOL operator certificate registered and recognised at European Qualifications Framework (EQF) Level 2 across Europe. A decision is expected in later in June. 

ESTA has joined the IRU – the international road transport industry association - as an affiliate member in a move to increase the organisation’s profile and influence with the European Commission and international road transport authorities.

New moves to harmonize standards and regulations governing lighting and marking on heavy transport throughout Europe are underway following the inaugural meeting of a new ESTA technical working group hosted by BSK in Frankfurt at the end of January.

Apart from ESTA and BSK, organisations on the working group were the Dutch association TLN; Tii Group; Hipertrans, Broshuis, Kässbohrer and Faymonville. Any organisations interested in joining should contact the ESTA office. For the full story go to ESTA News. 

Spanish transport authorities have backed down in their attempts to enforce changes in the country’s exceptional transport regulations that discriminated against international hauliers.

The move follows a series of complaints made to the European Commission and the Spanish government from ESTA, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and a host of national trade bodies. Go to ESTA News for the full story. 

You can download the latest ESTA Annual Review here