(SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE STORIES)

- New French "blind spot" signage rules come into force

- ESTA Awards 2021 finalists announced

- Talks underway over French blind spot rules

- ERRU register worries abnormal transport companies

- ECOL in talks over rigger training

- UK delays implementing point-Brexit transport rules

- Jens Ennen to speak at ESTA's awards and market update

- Sarens runs its first ECOL training course

- Wind safety report take-up too slow, says ESTA

- New ICSA best practice guides near publication

- Concern at Germany's VEMAGS reforms

- EU transport workers exempt from testing and quarantine regs

- Sarens receives ECOL training centre approval

- ESTA Awards 20201 go online

- Opposition grows to French "blind spot" regulations

- ECOL exams available in three languages

- ECOL talks in Germany, Ireland, Spain

(KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MANY MORE STORIES)

April 1, 2021

French authorities have so far refused to delay or amend new regulations on "blind spot" signage stickers for heavy transport vehicles despite pressure from the European Commission and many organisations, including ESTA and the International Road Transport Union (IRU). 

As a result, from April 1 heavy transport vehicles on French roads not equipped with the "blind spot" stickers can be penalised. Full details of the new regulations from ESTA member FNTR - the French transport association - are in the Downloads section of this website in French and English here

The rules say that all lorries and buses must be fitted with three stickers, 30 centimetres in size, one at the rear and one on each side of the vehicle.

Transport companies have pointed out that this is impossible for large numbers of vehicles, such as those carrying wide or oversized loads, car transporters, low loaders and many more. Critics also argue that the French measures will not significantly improve road safety and are not compatible with existing EU legislation on the free movement of goods. 

The regulations came into force on January 1 with a "grace period" which meant they would not be fully enforced until March 31. That "grace period" has now expired and talks aimed at resolving the concerns of the transport industry have not reached agreement.

The IRU said: "The European Commission will continue to discuss this with France and has asked  to be kept informed about the impact of the implementation of this measure."

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: "ESTA is always happy to discuss measures to improve safety but impractical and unilateral actions like this by individual governments are not the way to deliver lasting and meaningful improvements.

"We ask our members to report to us any examples of how these regulations are being enforced to help us put together a further and more detailed response to Brussels and the French authorities."

March 22, 2021

The list of finalists for the ESTA Awards 2021 has been released. Further details of the projects, companies and products will be published shortly. The winners will be announced during the free online ESTA Awards and Market Update event on April 22.

To see the shortlist, go to the awards section of this website here

To register to attend, go here

March 23, 2021

Talks are underway between the European Commission and the French authorities over the country's controversial introduction of rules on "blind spot" safety stickers for road transport.

The new rules - which made such stickers mandatory for all lorries travelling on French roads  - came into force on January 1, although international vehicles were given until April 1 to comply.

Both ESTA and the IRU - the International Road Transport Union - have raised concerns about the new rules with Brussels arguing that they are impossible to implement and will do nothing to improve safety. 

The rules say that all lorries and buses must be fitted with three stickers, 30 centimetres in size, one at the rear and one on each side of the vehicle. But transport companies have pointed out that this is impossible for large numbers of vehicles, such as those carrying wide or oversized loads, car transporters, low loaders and many more. 

The issue was also raised with the Commission by two Dutch MEPs - Tom Berendsen and Annie Schreijer-Pierik - who asked whether the new rules were legal and whether they jeopardised European rules on the free movement of goods.

The urgency of the situation was underlined by the IRU who said it has received reports that some international transport operators have already been penalised in France, despite the grace period. 

The outcome of the talks between the French Ministries of Transport and the Interior and the European Commission is not yet clear, but the IRU said that further information is expected before the end of the month.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said:  "With support from our friends and colleagues at the IRU we have made ESTA's views very clear and we hope this situation can be resolved quickly and amicably. We are always happy to discuss measures to improve safety but impractical and unilateral actions like this by individual governments are not the way to deliver lasting and meaningful improvements."

March 19, 2021

ESTA is "extremely concerned" at the impact on the heavy and abnormal transport sector of the new sanctions register for transport violations which will come into effect on April 1.

The ERRU register - the European Register of Road Transport Undertakings - contains Europe-wide records of violations of transport legislation and includes a penalty points system. If a transport operator collects too many penalty points, they risk losing their licence to operate.

Under the new system, every violation of road transport law will attract a number of penalty points. If a company’s points exceeds its limit - set according to the size of the company - it risks having its licence suspended or revoked. In addition, the legislation also applies to individual transport managers.

The long list of potential offences includes violations of the rules on driving and rest times, tachographs, working times, weight and dimensions, the technical condition of the vehicle, speed limits, driver competence and the transport of dangerous goods by road.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: "Within the ERRU there are three categories of violations, namely minor, medium and serious. The problem for abnormal transport is that for relatively minor offences the transport permit often becomes void and therefore offences can quickly fall into the highest category. 

"For example, a small exceedance of the driving times in the permit already results in 12 penalty points. But for companies with 2 to 10 vehicles, the maximum number of penalty points in two years is 26. With a few fines you can quickly get over that limit and you are in the danger zone."

Klijn said that ESTA strongly backs all measures to improve safety but added that as a result of the register, the abnormal transport sector risks being disproportionately and severely punished and companies will face a much higher risk of losing their permit than other operators. 

The ERRU register was created by the European Commission to allow a better exchange of information between member states, so that the authorities can monitor whether road transport companies are complying with the rules. It was officially adopted in 2013, but its launch was delayed until this year at the request of several countries who argued that they were unprepared for its introduction.

In a statement, the European Commission said: "Undertakings that do not respect the rules when operating abroad will face the consequences in the member state where they are based. This creates fairer competition conditions in the road transport market.

"The set-up of the national registers and their interconnection are required under the legislation on the access to the profession of road transport undertakings (Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009)."

Ton Klijn continued: "The problem has already been discussed with IRU and the European Commission, but this has not yet led to a solution. 

"ESTA will soon participate in further talks with the parties involved and the European Commission. Our aim is simply to try and achieve a more realistic approach to fines for breaches in regulations by abnormal transport operators in the set-up of the ERRU register."

March 18, 2021

ESTA's European Crane Operator Licence is in talks about the possibility of developing a rigger training scheme to run alongside its increasingly popular operator training courses.

The move was revealed at last week's online ECOL Participants meeting and followed discussions at the most recent meeting of the ECOL Supervisory Board. The Board gave the go-ahead for ECOL to investigate the issue in more detail.

Following the Board meeting, ECOL informally contacted a number of leading industry companies to test their reaction. The idea received a positive response from the oil and gas sector in particular, notably Shell and Exxon Mobile, and ECOL experts are now drawing up more detailed plans.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: "Currently, rigger qualifications are often different in different companies and countries and it may be that ECOL can help create a common standard that would improve safety and efficiency. 

"That is what we are currently investigating and we will be talking to those authorities who currently run rigger training to see if we can develop a common and acceptable Europe-wide approach."

March 15, 2021

On March 11, the UK Government announced substantial delays to the timetable for the implementation of new post-Brexit requirements for the transport industry covering customs, sanitary and phytosanitary rules. 

In response, the IRU said: "The delays in the UK implementation timetable provide extra time to prepare the transport operators for the next steps...IRU will undertake a number of initiatives to organise additional guidance sessions from the UK and EU side and will keep members informed of further developments."

Full details of the new UK timetable is on the UK Government website here

February 22, 2021

Jens Ennen, CEO at Tadano Faun and Tadano Demag in Germany, has been confirmed as the keynote speaker for the online ESTA Awards and Market Update taking place on 22 April. Ennen will give an overview of the crane market worldwide and address the post-Covid market landscape.

He joins two other senior industry speakers on the programme. Moritz Dickmann, managing director of Nöpel Group, will discuss the implications of reforms to VEMAGS transport permits while Garrick Nisbet, projects director at Notus Heavy Lift and lifting manager at the Hinkley Point C project in the UK, will report on recent heavy lifts and transport activities at the nuclear power project, including lifts by Sarens' ‘Big Carl’ crane.

The event, which is free to attend, will also see the announcement of the winners in each of the ten categories of the 2021 ESTA Awards which are run jointly with International Cranes and Specialized Transport. For more information and to register go to https://www.khl-group.com/events/esta/. The full programme will take two hours. 

February 19, 2021

ESTA is pushing for the onshore wind industry to rapidly adopt the measures in the Best Practice Guide for the Transport and Installation of Onshore WTG Systems following a recent crane accident in Sweden.

The guide - which is available as a free download from the ESTA Website here http://www.estaeurope.eu/BPGwind - was published last year but ESTA feels the industry has been slow to recognise its importance. 

David Collett, ESTA President and Managing Director of the Collett Group, said that ESTA does not have sufficient information to comment on the cause of individual incidents.

But he added: "It is patently clear that the whole industry would be both safer and more efficient if there was earlier and better communication along the supply chain and if the industry would adopt the measures contained in best practice guide.

"The wind industry is growing fast and becoming a major part of Europe's energy mix - and the turbines themselves are becoming ever larger. 

"As a result, there has never been a better time for the wind industry to improve its safety systems and practices during the construction, transport and installation of onshore projects. It can, literally, be a matter of life and death."

The Best Practice Guide discussions were led by ESTA with the support of VDMA Power Systems, the part of the German Engineering Federation whose members include the major turbine manufacturers, and the crane manufacturers through FEM, the European Materials Handling Federation.

February 19, 2021

Sarens - the Belgium-based international heavy lift and transportation company - has run its first training course for the European Crane Operators Licence just weeks after becoming the latest organisation to complete the process of becoming an approved ECOL training centre. 

The company's training centre in Wolvertem, Belgium, received its ECOL Certificate at the end of last year following final approval from Lloyds Register, the body tasked with overseeing standards. 

Sarens is the fourth ECOL training centre to be approved after Mammoet in the Netherlands, EUC Lillebælt in Denmark and Liebherr in Germany. Four more companies have so far announced their intention to set up ECOL training centres - Aertssen and Michielsens in Belgium plus Tadano Demag and Manitowoc in Germany. In addition, the German Genosk organisation is in talks to qualify its IHK apprentice training scheme under ECOL. 

February 19, 2021

Two new best practice guides for the crane industry have moved a step closer to publication after the latest meeting of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly (ICSA) which took place online in February.

Final touches are being put to the long-awaited best practice guide on the safe use of mobile cranes on barges and work is also nearing completion on a guidance paper on mobile crane ground preparation for wind farm construction. Both papers are expected to be officially released before the second half of 2021. Work has also started on a new best practice guide on the use of mobile cranes in pile driving and extraction work. 

The ICSA has seven crane user and manufacturer association members from Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the USA. Further information can be found on the ESTA website or at https://icsa-crane.org 

February 5, 2021

Updated February 15, 2021

ESTA is asking members to get in touch with detailed examples of how new changes to Germany's VEMAGS permit system for heavy transport and abnormal loads are working in practice with a view to raising concerns with the European Commission.

Non-German transport companies fear that the changes will place them at a commercial disadvantage against their German rivals and that the new system will lead to increased bureaucracy and delays.  In addition, permit costs in Germany look set to increase by 130 per cent or more in the wake of the controversial reforms.

VEMAGS is the German online system for the application and approval for large-scale and heavy transports in all 16 federal states. Debate about reforming the rules has been underway for many months.  The latest changes came into force on January 1 this year but the impact is only now becoming apparent. 

The German authorities started the process of VEMAGS reform to align both the processes and the rates charged for permits between the different Bundesländer, or states.  They also wanted to counter what they called "permit tourism". Because the time to award a permit varies from days to weeks, companies often send in applications to multiple authorities and accept the one from the authority that reacts the quickest.

Under the new rules, international transport companies without a branch office in Germany can only apply for a permit at the border or at the loading place (if the route to the loading place does not require a permit). Experts are concerned that some permit booking offices are going to be overwhelmed by the number of applications they will have to deal with.

In contrast, German-based companies will have the advantage of being able to obtain permits from more sources - either from their main company location, the location of what is called an 'independent branch office', or the location of the start of the transport.

Concerns about the changes have been raised by many members of ESTA some of whom also believe that the German authorities are exploiting current circumstances to increase prices and raise money.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: "The real question to ask is why this is such an issue in Germany compared with other countries? In Holland you can get most permits in 24 hours so why does it take up to 8 weeks in Germany? Quite understandably, the German authorities want to deal with the permit tourism issue, but they are planning changes that will cause great difficulties, rather than reducing the delays that are the cause of the problems in the first place.

"What is more, they are introducing these changes at the worst possible time for the industry and our clients when many are already dealing with the combined impact of the pandemic and Brexit."

Originally, the German authorities also proposed to ban overseas transport companies - but not their German counterparts - from obtaining a long-term permit, or Dauergenehmigung,  but that was withdrawn when some experts said the move was in clear breach of the EU's single market rules.

Klijn added: "You could argue that this situation now is not as bad as we first feared but, it is still not good news. Brussels will not intervene on the issue of the increased costs, as that is a matter for the national authorities. But whether the new rules discriminate against non-German companies is something we will be watching very closely. 

"It may be that the new rules work out fine, and that the German authorities put in the necessary resources to minimise delays. Or it may be that these new arrangements amount to a 'de facto' discrimination against non-German companies in which case we reserve the right to return to Brussels and raise this issue once more."

A further concern is the impact on service companies that obtain permits on behalf of their clients.  Under the new rules as currently written, they would have to register for every company separately on the VEMAGS site and they can only apply for a permit at the same place that the company they represent could apply - so for a non-German company that is only at the entry border.

Klijn continued: "This means the service companies can no longer use long-standing contacts in permitting offices near their own offices. Traditionally these permitting offices were well staffed and well informed because they handled a large stream of permits. The option of being able to apply at a near-by permit office is now only open for German companies, and that can be a big advantage."

Klijn concluded: "This is a very important issue for our members. We will be asking them for detailed information about how the VEMAGS changes are working in practice to ensure that this is not a form of discrimination against non-German companies by the back door."

February 2, 2021

European transport workers and transport service providers should be exempted from COVID19 testing and quarantine obligations following a European Council decision on Monday, February 1 aimed at minimising disruption to trade. 

The news is contained in a new Council recommendation and amendments to (EU) 2020/1475 on a "coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic".

Section 12 of the amendments reads as follows: "Transport workers and transport service providers should in principle not be required to undergo a test for COVID-19 infection. If, however, a member state really wishes to require testing, rapid antigen tests (and not PCR) should be used, and this should not lead to transport disruptions.

"Should transport or supply chain disruptions occur, member states should lift or repeal any such systematic testing requirements immediately in order to preserve the functioning of the “Green Lanes". Moreover, the recommendation prescribes that transport workers and transport service providers should not be required to undergo quarantine while exercising this essential function."

Although the document is non-binding, lobbyists and experts say it has great value because the EU member state governments adopted it unanimously. 

January 14, 2021

Sarens - the Belgium-based international heavy lift and transportation company - is the latest organisation to complete the process of becoming an approved European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) training centre and is expected to start its first ECOL courses shortly. 

The company's training centre in Wolvertem, Belgium, received its ECOL Certificate at the end of last year following final approval from Lloyds Register, the body tasked with overseeing standards. 

Ton Klijn, ESTA Director and Chair of the ECOL Supervisory Board, said: “The ECOL Supervisory Board congratulates Sarens and we wish them many successful ECOL training sessions and certified operators in the future.”

Sarens is the fourth ECOL training centre to be approved after Mammoet in the Netherlands, EUC Lillebælt in Denmark and Liebherr in Germany. Three more companies have so far announced their intention to set up ECOL training centres - Aertssen and Michielsens in Belgium and Manitowoc in Germany. In addition, the German Genosk organisation is taking steps to qualify their IHK apprentice training scheme under ECOL. 

December 29, 2020

Brexit deal's impact on road transport: The European Union and the United Kingdom have signed a draft EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement. The IRU has produced a summary of the most important new rules related to road and goods transport that will come into effect on January 1, 2021. The IRU document is in Downloads on this website here.

December 18, 2020

Following the news that Intermat in April next year has been cancelled, we are now planning to hold our ESTA Users’ Night and Awards on April 22nd, 2021 as an online event, with the addition of a special celebration of the winners at our autumn meeting in Finland, which we hope we will be able to hold in person. The 2021 entry forms are in the Awards section of this website here.

December 20, 2020

The UK government has confirmed it is ready for increased TIR transits between the UK and the EU when the Brexit transition period ends in two weeks. Extensive UK government planning and new support information for hauliers seeks to mitigate potential traffic and driver issues on the UK side of the border. 

Responding to questions from leading EU road haulage companies at an IRU dialogue this week, senior figures from the Ministry of Transport and UK Customs (HMRC) confirmed that trained border staff are ready for TIR transits to, from and via the UK at all major ports from 1 January. 

With a post Brexit trade deal still being negotiated, IRU and road transport operators on both sides of the English Channel have expressed alarm at the uncertainty companies continue to face in planning shipments. Further information is in Downloads here or on the IRU website here. 

December 15, 2020

 International Road Transport Union (IRU) has written two letters to the European Commission - to DG MOVE and DG GROW - calling on them to oppose the obligatory marking of blind spots on heavy-duty vehicles being unexpectedly introduced in France from January 1.

The letters ask the European Commission to raise the issue urgently with the relevant French authorities. The IRU states that the proposals are impractical and that the timeline is unrealistic. The IRU also argues that the measures - the obligatory affixing of stickers on heavy-duty vehicles - will not substantially improve road safety and are not compatible with existing EU legislation.

The full letters are here (DG GROW) and here (DG MOVE)

December 15, 2020

The International Road Transport Union - of which ESTA is a member -  has outlined the procedures for road transport vehicles using ports between the UK and the European Union that will come into force on January  1st , 2021.

Details are here

The document focusses on four main topics: UK Procedures (Part I), EU procedures (Part II), TIR procedure (Part III) and advantages of TIR (Part IV). ESTA members are encouraged to share the information presented in this document with their own members.

Any user experience from hauliers performing transport to and from the UK will be highly appreciated and should be sent to director@estaeurope.eu  or  tir@iru.org. Urgent queries should be sent to hotline@iru.org .

December 11, 2020

ESTA Director Ton Klijn has today written to all ESTA members advising them of the contingency measures being planned in case the European Union and the UK fail to reach agreement on their future relationship.

Negotiations are still ongoing but are due to finish on Sunday night, December 13. The contingency measures are intended to ensure business continuity after 1 January 2021.

In his letter, Klijn said: "This morning, the European Commission published a new communication here announcing the tabling of a proposal for a contingency regulation for goods and passenger transport by road."

The proposal  - which will have to be approved by the Member States and the European Parliament - will apply from 1 January 2021 onwards in case an EU-UK Agreement has not entered into force and assuming the UK reciprocates the measures.

For the full letter text and the EU proposal itself, go to Downloads here. 

Ton Klijn added: "ESTA members are invited to examine these contingency measures and use this information in your activities to prepare your member companies for the changing situation on 1 January 2021. 

"ESTA will endeavour to keep members informed of new developments, including about similar measures announced by the UK. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions." 

December 7, 2020

A row is brewing over new regulations introduced in France on "blind spot" signage for heavy transport vehicles that are due to come into effect unexpectedly on January 1, 2021.

ESTA member FNTR, the French transport association, is contacting both the authorities in France and Brussels to ask for a delay and further consultation on the new rules which many argue have been poorly planned. 

"ESTA fully supports the concerns expressed by our French colleagues at FNTR. Of course, the changes affect all International transport companies working in France, said ESTA Director Ton Klijn. "We are also urgently asking our contacts in Brussels whether this action by the French authorities is a prelude to new regulations throughout the EU."

Similar regulations are being considered in many European states following a series of serious and sometimes fatal accidents involving heavy goods vehicles and cyclists, often in large towns and cities. But while supporting measures to improve safety, many transport companies argue that the problem is caused by trucks and vulnerable cyclists sharing the same road space - a situation that will not be resolved by additional signage, however well-intentioned. 

As they stand, the new regulations in France will cover any vehicle with a GVW of more than 3.5 tonnes. Some, such as agricultural and forestry vehicles, are exempt, but foreign vehicles are included - unless they carry "blind spot" signage approved by another EU member state.

Full details can be found in the FNTR documents - in both French and English - in the Downloads section of this website here. 

November 26, 2020

Three of ESTA’s top officials were unanimously re-elected for further three-year terms at the organisation’s General Assembly last month. André Friderici (pictured), Technical Director of Swiss-based Friderici Spécial, stays on as President of ESTA’s Section Transport; Jens Enggaard, CEO of Danish company BMS, remains as ESTA Treasurer; and Stijn Sarens, Global Key Account Manager at Belgian multinational firm Sarens, retains his position as ESTA Secretary.

November 25, 2020

ESTA has written to Turkish member AND - the Turkish Heavy Transport Association - in support of AND's attempts to persuade the Turkish authorities to reform the country's heavy transport regulations. AND hopes that Turkey will adopt similar regulations to those currently in force in Germany and the Netherlands.

In his letter of support, ESTA Director Ton Klijn said that if the Turkish authorities did agree to the reforms, their national heavy transport industry would be safer and more efficient as a result, and the industry would also reduce its environmental footprint. 

November 21, 2020

The latest meeting of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly took place online in November. Final touches are being put to the long-awaited and detailed best practice guide on the safe use of mobile cranes on barges before its publication early next year. 

Delegates also decided to start work on a new best practice guide on the use of mobile cranes in pile driving and extraction work. Any ESTA members interested in contributing to this work are invited to contact the ESTA office. 

The International Crane Stakeholders Assembly's role is to promote the harmonization of international standards and share information on safety, technical and regulatory issues. The ICSA has seven crane user and manufacturer members from Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the USA. Further information can be found on the ESTA website or at https://icsa-crane.org.

November 20, 2020

The online examination system for ESTA's European Crane Operators Licence project is now up and running in three languages - English, Dutch and Danish - and work is underway on German and Spanish versions.

In addition, three more companies have announced their intention to set up ECOL training centres - Aertssen and Michielsens in Belgium and Manitowoc in Germany - and talks are underway about signing Mutual Recognition Agreements with relevant organisations in Spain, Germany and the UK. 

So far two MRAs have been agreed, with TCVT from the Netherlands and BCACS from British Columbia, Canada. Three training institutes and four examiners from three European countries have joined the scheme and ECOL has carried out 19 examination sessions in four different languages. A total of 38 operators have been certified. They were examined in three different countries.

November 20, 2020

Wouter van Noort, ESTA’s Section Cranes President and European Managing Director for Mammoet, has warned the crane industry of the long-term dangers of losing skilled employees during the Covid19 crisis.

He made a strongly-worded plea during the recent joint meeting of ESTA’s transport and crane sections. He said: “As the crane industry, we are of course largely dependent on what our clients are producing or building. As a result of the crisis and the subsequent lack of production, the understandable reflex of many companies is to do whatever they can to cut costs.

“But good entrepreneurship requires us to look further than the present month or even year and we should bear in mind that before the pandemic crisis a shortage of personnel was looming that will quickly return after the current health issues have been resolved.”

He continued: “Saying goodbye to well-trained and experienced employees may look a sensible action now but could be dearly regretted in the future.”

November 19, 2020

ESTA is planning to talk to the European Commission about the growing concerns surrounding planned changes to Germany's VEMAGS permit regulations for heavy and abnormal transport.

VEMAGS is the German online system for the application and approval for large-scale and heavy transports in all 16 federal states. Transport companies and their clients fear the new rules will lead to increased costs, unnecessary bureaucracy and greater delays.

Debate about reforming the rules has been underway for many months, but the latest changes were announced following a meeting of Germany's Bundesrat - or Federal Council - on November 6 and are due to come into force on January 1, 2021.

From that date permits can only be ordered from the regional authority where the transport starts or where the transport company has its headquarters or a major branch office. This implies that companies not based in Germany can only apply to the region where they enter Germany. 

The impact will be to greatly reduce the number of authorities from whom a transport company can obtain a permit for a heavy transport or abnormal load. The cost of obtaining permits under the new regulations is also expected to increase, in some cases significantly.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: "At present there are many unanswered questions that do not just affect German companies but European operators. These changes will impact the costs and scheduling of projects that are already at an advanced stage of planning . We urgently need clarification of how these new regulations will be interpreted on the ground by the authorities, how they will be implemented and what the costs will be."

Delays and uncertainty in the current system means it suffers from what the authorities have called "permit tourism". Because the time to award a permit varies from days to weeks, companies often send in applications to multiple authorities and accept the one from the authority that reacts the quickest.

Klijn added: "Quite understandably, the German authorities want to deal with the permit tourism issue, but they are planning changes that will cause great difficulties, rather than reducing the delays that are the cause of the problems in the first place."

ESTA Section Transport President André Friderici, Technical Director of Swiss company Friderici Special, voiced the concerns of many companies when he said: " We envisage these changes could  lead to an overflow of applications in certain areas and even longer permit production times than we already have."

October 7, 2020

Talks are underway with organisations in Germany, Ireland and Spain to establish mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) between the national crane operator licencing authorities and ESTA’s European Crane Operators Licence.

ECOL has so far signed two MRAs – with the Netherlands and British Columbia in Canada.  Such agreements involve ensuring that standards of the national licence and ECOL are fully aligned.

Once they are, an ECOL licence and the national licence will be interchangeable and operators holding them will be able to work in all ECOL-recognising territories without the need for additional training or qualifications.

The current round of talks are with SOLAS in Ireland; BG Verkehr in Germany; and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Spain. 

October 2, 2020

Joint work by ESTA and the IRU – the International Road Transport Union – to lobby for the creation of European heavy transport corridors that can be used for both military and non-military purposes looks close to success.

The 1.5 billion euro proposal is contained in the budget for the 2021-27 budget for the CEF – the Connecting Europe Facility, one of the most important EU investment programmes for transport projects.

However, final agreement has been delayed by an eleventh-hour dispute between the European Council and the European Parliament after the Council announced new last-minute amendments. We are expecting to hear more shortly. 

October 5, 2020

ESTA Director Ton Klijn has made a direct appeal to British companies and associations not to let the Brexit debate divide – and weaken -  the European heavy transport and lifting industries.

Speaking at the close of the online ESTA Awards ceremony, Klijn said: “Brexit is something that most in Europe see as a completely avoidable tragedy and with that in mind, I would like to make a direct appeal to our British friends.

“Not all members of ESTA are from countries that are members of the European Union and British companies and organisations have been great supporters of ESTA over the years.

“We have enjoyed and appreciated your involvement and expertise.. Despite the political problems, we hope very much that your commitment to our work will continue, so that we can keep learning from each other and make our industry safer and more efficient, to the benefit of all of us.”

October 2, 2020

Five more training institutes have applied to join the European Crane Operators Licence system – three from Belgium and two from Germany.  If their application is accepted, they will join the three training institutes already up and running – Mammoet in the Netherlands; EUC Lillebælt in Denmark; and Liebherr in Germany.

Italian company Fagioli and Netherlands-based Mammoet Europe both took home two of the top prizes in this year’s delayed ESTA Awards. Click here for the full list of winners and finalists.

The awards - and the accompanying webinar – were run online for the first time due to the COVID19 pandemic and attracted more than 400 registered delegates. The event was jointly organised by ESTA and International Cranes and Specialized Transport and the KHL Group.

A full recording of the event is available here

In his welcome address, ESTA President David Collett said: “The ESTA Awards have grown to be a major event and one of the highlights of the year, bringing together companies of all sizes, types and nationalities. For obvious reasons, holding a normal ceremony proved impossible this year. Even so, we still wanted to celebrate the great projects and companies in our industry, and also to do what we can to meet each other, even if only on screen.”

Thanking all who entered and the sponsors for supporting the event at such a difficult time, he added: “Showing off the best in our industry is not only good public relations, it also enables us all to learn from each other and keep improving.”nThis year’s awards attracted record numbers of entries from 13 countries and were sponsored by Kässbohrer, Liebherr, Spierings and Tadano Demag.

Click here for the full list of winners and finalists. (Photo shows Fagioli's winning entry for its work following the tragic collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa)

July 29, 2020

European transport companies will have to deal with new rules for driving and rest times, cabotage, secondment and the introduction of the smart tachograph 2 after the European Parliament approved a new range of Mobility Package proposals on July 9.

The new regulations for driving and rest times will take effect first, in September this year, with other changes introduced over several years as the relevant authorities discuss how the new rules can be enforced.

Parliament’s approval was the last hurdle in the legislative process and is the culmination of three years of detailed and often difficult negotiations.

In early 2017, the European Commission presented the proposals that became known as Mobility Package 1 with which it wanted to tackle a number of abuses in the transport sector. For example, the new rules were designed to combat mailbox companies, end systematic cabotage and improve the working conditions of international transport drivers.

To do this, the Commission proposed a revision of the Driving and Rest Time Regulations and the Market Access and Occupation Regulations. The Commission's proposals caused great controversy between Member States and the final agreement is a compromise that the industry believes includes both good and bad points.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said:  “ESTA is not entirely positive about the outcome, but we are pleased that there is finally clarity about which rules will apply to our sector.

"However, while it is good that the new regulations are finally in place – and they look to be an improvement over what existed previously – we will be watching closely how they are interpreted and enforced. If they become over bureaucratic or impractical for our members, we will be lobbying for amendments in future.”

ESTA is a member of the IRU, the international road transpirt organisation. For more information on the Mobility Package, go to the IRU website here

(Additional information supplied by TLN)

July 29, 2020

ESTA Director Ton Klijn has written to Wind Harmony – the project funded by the European Commission with the aim of improving safety in the fast-growing wind industry – to call for greater emphasis on lifting and transportation safety during the construction of onshore wind farms.

The organisations behind the Wind Harmony project held an online seminar last month to outline the conclusions of their work and their likely recommendations to the European Commission. But ESTA is worried that its members’ fears about safety on onshore projects – exacerbated by the increasing size and weight of new generations of turbines – are being downplayed.

In his letter, Klijn wrote: “Of course, all work to improve safety is to be welcomed. But I am writing now to express some concerns.” He said that Wind Harmony seems to be focussed primarily on the offshore sector, even though the onshore industry is much bigger and he added: “Lifting, transportation and construction subjects were excluded from the final list of priority recommended topics to be submitted to the European Commission. 

“It is our strong belief that these activities are responsible for many safety incidents. Assuming that the key objective of the Wind Harmony project is to improve safety in the whole wind industry – from manufacture to installation, operation and decommissioning - then we feel it must analyse current incidents and accidents and their causes, onshore as well as offshore.”

Klijn also stressed that early engagement with the supply chain is a crucial factor in improving safety standards. “From ESTA’s perspective, that means early engagement with transportation and lifting companies – an issue of increasing importance due to the growing size of wind turbines.”

Klijn’s comments come in the wake of the publication earlier this year of ESTA’s “Best Practice Guide for Transport and Installation of Onshore WTG Systems”.  The guide was produced with support from VDMA Power Systems – the arm of the German engineering association whose members include most of the major turbine manufacturers – and the crane manufacturer members of FEM, the European Materials Handling Federation. Copies of the guide can be downloaded free from ESTA’s website at  http://www.estaeurope.eu/BPGwind

The Wind Harmony project has been tasked by the European Commission to analyse health and safety regulations and related standards impacting wind energy both onshore and offshore and assess their potential for harmonisation. 

The implementing consortium includes Eclareon, WindEurope and the Renewables Consulting Group. 

July 28, 2020

Otto Rettenmaier, German entrepreneur and founder of the Transporter Industry International Group (TII), passed away on July 23, 2020, just a few days before his 94th birthday. 

Rettenmaier was born in 1926 in the Swabian town of Holzmühle. After studying business administration at the Technical University of Stuttgart, he joined his parents' company, Faserstoffwerke J. Rettenmaier & Söhne (JRS), a market leader in the plant fibre sector. 

He famously said that he pursued the take-over of Scheuerle in 1988 - the specialist in heavy-duty and industrial vehicles and a company already operating internationally - "out of technical fascination".

Whatever his motive, the move laid the foundation for today’s TII Group. With further takeovers - of Nicolas in 1995, Kamag in 2004 and the Indian operation TiiGer -  he created a global group of companies in special vehicles for industrial applications, heavy-duty trailers for the road and vehicles for logistics applications.

Among his many honours, he was awarded Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit First Class for his contribution to industry. Rettenmaier was a good friend and supporter of ESTA. He received ESTA’s rarely-awarded  “Person of the Year” accolade in 2007. 

With his wife Lore, Otto Rettenmaier had two daughters and a son. His daughter Susanne is managing partner of the family holding company, while other members of the family remain closely involved in the Group’s work. 

July 15, 2020

Crane operators holding a European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) will be able to work in British Columbia, Canada – and vice versa - without undertaking additional training following the conclusion of a ground-breaking agreement last week.

ESTA’s ECOL scheme has signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with the British Columbia Association for Crane Safety (BCACS).  The move followed a meeting of the ECOL Expert Committee in May. The meeting – held electronically due to COVID-19 – agreed to an alignment of standards between ECOL and the BCACS. The two sides then signed a formal MRA, a process that was completed on July 8. For the full story, go to the ECOL website at www.ecol-esta.eu.

July 8, 2020

ESTA and Dutch member TLN have written a joint letter to the German authorities raising serious concerns about changes to the VEMAGS permit issuing system that were introduced at the end of June. 

ESTA and TLN fear that the changes will raise costs, make the system more complex and bureaucratic and discriminate unfairly against foreign abnormal transport companies. The VEMAGS changes include reducing the number of permit application locations and new regulations governing margin for dimensions, weights and axle loads which ESTA and TLN believe will place a huge additional burden on the system and be bad for the environment. 

ESTA also intends to lobby Dutch MEPs in the European Parliament to raise the issue in Brussels. 

The VEMAGS changes came into effect on June 20. 

July 6, 2020

Klaus Meissner, one of Europe’s most respected crane industry experts, has confirmed that he has stepped down from his position with Tadano.  Meissner was Director of Product Safety, Engineering Systems and IPM for Demag Mobile Cranes, part of Terex Cranes until the latter was sold to Tadano last August. 

Announcing his move, Meissner wrote: “Effective July 1, 2020, I will have left Tadano but will be working case by case as an independent engineer and appointed crane expert. “ Meissner will continue on the supervisory board of ESTA’s European Crane Operators Licence and as convenor for the working group that developed EN13000 (CEN TC147 WG11), the European safety standard for mobile cranes.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn paid tribute to Meissner’s work and said: “Klaus is a tremendous friend for me personally, ESTA and the wider industry.  ESTA will of course still be in regular contact with Klaus, but at this moment I want to thank him for his strong support for ESTA and his great commitment to improving safety and professionalism in the crane industry”

July 4, 2020

ESTA’s 2021 awards evening will be held on April 22 at the Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, during the Intermat exhibition. The 2021 autumn meeting will be hosted in Finland by ESTA member INFRA on Octiober 14 and 15. The meeting in Finland was originally due to be held this year, but was postponed due to COVID19. Further information about future meetings will be announced when available, and will be put on this website. 

July 1, 2020

Jens Enggaard, CEO of Danish international crane company BMS, has been appointed Vice President of ESTA’s Section Cranes. Enggaard already hold the post of ESTA Treasurer and will fulfil both roles for the remainder of his term. He was asked to do both as the ESTA Board had reached its maximum number of members under its statutes.  

June 18, 2020

ESTA’s long-running campaign to harmonize international marking and lighting regulations for heavy transport and abnormal loads has received a major boost.

The proposals have won the backing of the VDA, the influential German automotive industry association and will now be presented to the UNECE committee responsible for administering international conventions on traffic regulations.  The next meeting of the committee was due to take place this month, but has been delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ESTA Section Transport Vice-President Iffet Türken said: “ This is very good news indeed and shows that we are slowly and steadily making progress.” 

Türken, who is a board member of trailer manufacturer Kässbohrer, added: “The current situation is absolutely ridiculous. The rules for marking and lighting of abnormal transports are different in every EU country.”

In 2018, ESTA set up a cross-industry working group led by Türken and Section Transport President André Friderici of Switzerland-based Friderici Spécial to study the different regulations in operation around Europe and produce its own recommendations. That report was published in 2019 and was presented to relevant orgaisations in an attempt to garner their support.

Türken continued: “This is perhaps not the most important topic, but a recurring and costly nuisance. Why does everyone want their own signs? And why is a side marking board in one country 50 x 50 cm and in another country 42,5 x 42,5 cm?

“ESTA is trying to get some unity here and we have produced an excellent report with sensible and workable proposals for amendment of the current ECE R48 regulations.”

May 27, 2020

ESTA’s new European Crane Operators Licence looks set to sign a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with the British Columbia Association for Crane Safety (BCACS) from Canada following a meeting of the ECOL Expert Committee earlier this month.

The expert meeting – held electronically due to COVID-19 – agreed to an alignment of standards between ECOL and the BCAS and the two sides are now drawing up a formal MRA.  The agreement means that an ECOL licence and a BCACS licence will be interchangeable and operators holding them will be able to work in both territories.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “This shows the growing international interest in ECOL. Agreements like this will enhance crane operator training on a worldwide level. ECOL can improve both safety and employment flexibility, allowing good operators to work wherever they are needed – something that will be a significant plus for the big international operators.”

ECOL supporters hope that the BCAS agreement will eventually lead to similar deals being struck with the rest of Canada.  ECOL’s first MRA was signed with the Netherlands late last year, and the organization hopes to have a further MRAs in place in the near future.

May 14, 2020

ESTA is calling on its members and supporters to encourage the wind industry to adopt its new best practice guide and improve the sector’s safety record. For a limited period, the Best Practice Guide for Transport and Installation of Onshore WTG Systems can be downloaded free of charge from ESTA’s website.

The detailed 52-page document is the result of over three year’s work and aims to help cut the worrying level of accidents. ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “We believe the guide is an excellent and valuable document and deserves the widest possible circulation.  It has already attracted a lot of interest, but we now need the industry to act on its recommendations .

“To that end, we want all of our members, supporters and friends to circulate the guide as widely as possible to any company with an interest in the wind industry.”

May 7, 2020

Crane & Logistics Partner has been certified as the first German-based examination institute for ESTA’s new European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL).  The company, based in the town of Rheine in north-west Germany, passed the ECOL audit carried out at the end of March by Lloyd’s Register, the body tasked with overseeing standards. 

Company founder Marcus Wübbelmann, a former crane and logistics expert for GE Energy, said that he and his colleagues were “super proud” at the news. “The team has done a tremendous job to prepare the infrastructure and processes to be able to pass the audit.”

He added: “I believe that ECOL will both improve safety and lead to a stronger and more efficient industry. Better education is vital especially when one considers the increasing level of complexity of both projects and equipment.”

Immediately following certification – and before the lockdown -  the first three examinations in the German language were performed by C&LP at Liebherr’s training facility. Liebherr completed the process of becoming an approved European Crane Operators Licence training centre and received its ECOL Certificate earlier in March, also following final approval from Lloyds Register. 

May 1, 2020

Netherlands-based crane hire company and Verschoor is the latest company to become an official ESTA Supporter.  The announcement means that ESTA now has 22 supporters alongside the organisation’s 29 full and special members and 39 affiliate members. 

April 14, 2020

The ninth meeting of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly (ICSA)  was held during the CONEXPO exhibition in Las Vegas, USA, on Thursday, March 12. It was hosted jointly by the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).  ESTA was represented by Ton Klijn, ESTA Director, and Jörg Senn, CEO of Senn AG. 

Topics discussed during the Joint meeting included:

• Finalization of, and agreement to publish, the latest guidance document titled “Mobile Crane Ground Preparation for Wind Farm Construction”, includes recommendations for the design and construction of access roads and working areas for mobile cranes.

• Status of the ICSA guidance document related to the use of cranes on barges scheduled for completion in October 2020.

• Agreement to collaborate on a new document that will provide guidance on the use of mobile cranes in pile driving/extraction applications.

• A summary of developments to various crane standards – EN 13000, CSA Z150 and the B30 series of standards.

Further information about the ICSA can be found here

April 2, 2020

Liebherr has completed the process of becoming an approved European Crane Operators Licence training centre and last month carried out its first three German language ECOL examinations in Ehingen at the Liebherr Schulungszentrum.

The company received its ECOL Certificate last month following final approval from Lloyds Register, the body tasked with overseeing standards. The current certificate is valid until March 2023. Liebherr has long been a strong supporter of ESTA’s ECOL project and agreed to align its training systems with ECOL’s approach last year. 

As a result, any operator that passes the aligned Liebherr training examinations will also be eligible to receive an ECOL licence – provided the operator registers with ECOL and the organisation’s  SkillRecord system that logs his or her experience.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “On behalf of the ECOL Supervisory Board, we congratulate Liebherr on this result and we wish them and the Liebherr Schulungszentrum many successful ECOL training sessions and certified operators in the future.”

For more information, go to  www.ecol-esta.eu 

March 30, 2020

ESTA has published a new best practice guide in an attempt to cut onshore wind farm accidents. For a limited period, the Best Practice Guide for the Transport and Installation of Onshore WTG Systems is available to download free of charge from a section on this website.

The Best Practice Guide discussions were lead by ESTA with the support of VDMA Power Systems, the part of the German Engineering Federation whose members include the major turbine manufacturers, and the crane manufacturers through FEM, the European Materials Handling Federation.

Detailed work on the detailed 52-page guide has been underway for over three years.  The guide is also backed up by other technical guidance documents such as the FEM 5.016 Guideline – Safety Issues in Wind Turbine Installation and Transportation (EN – 2017).

ESTA President David Collett said : “The next step is for us to talk to the developers, utilities, clients - and their contractors and consultants – and to persuade them that it is in their interests to ensure that their projects adopt best practice, as we have set out.

“In essence, we are trying to highlight the risks and negative impact of poor planning. One of the features of the document and our work is to stress the importance of early engagement of all of the firms working on a project, and especially the transport and lifting companies."

March 25, 2020

As a result of the COVID19 virus, the ESTA Awards evening will now take place in Amsterdam on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. The venue – the Postillion Hotel – remains unchanged.

The Awards were previously due to take place on April 23 and had already been postponed. The ESTA Spring section meetings and general assembly have also been moved to the same location and combined with the previously planned Autumn meeting. 

This means that the ESTA meetings in October will effectively become a joint Spring and Autumn event. The Crane and Transport Section meetings will take place on October 13, and the General Assembly on October 14. 

As a result of the above, ESTA has had to postpone the planned Autumn meeting in Helsinki, Finland until 2021.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “As you will understand, all of the above is based on the assumption that this COVID19 crisis will be largely behind us by the end of July, as is now the expectation here. If this proves to be too optimistic we will of course have to revisit our plans.”

Should anyone have any questions or concerns, please contact the ESTA office.

March 23, 2020

ESTA’s new European Crane Operators Licence is to sign its second Mutual Recognition Agreement with the British Columbia Association for Crane Safety (BCACS) from Canada following a meeting in the Netherlands in February.

The agreement means that an ECOL licence and a BCACS licence will be interchangeable and operators holding them will be able to work in both territories.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “This is very good news indeed and shows the growing international interest in ECOL and how it can both improve safety and employment flexibility, allowing good operators to work wherever they are needed.”

ECOL’s first MRA was signed with the Netherlands late last year, and the organization hopes to have a further six MRAs in place by the end of 2020.

March 20, 2020

Horst Felbermayr Senior - for many years the driving force behind the  Austria-based international company bearing his name - has died at the age of 75 after a serious illness.

Originally from from the city of Wels in Upper Austria, Horst Senior took over the company from his father Franz who founded it in 1942. He ran the business for almost 50 years with his wife Gisela before becoming Chairman of the Supervisory Board in 2015. 

Under his leadership, Felbermayr expanded to became one of the largest heavy transport, lifting and construction companies in Europe, with a total of around 2,700 employees in 67 locations and 19 countries. In 2018, the company’s turnover was 637 million euros. 

From early on in the company’s development, he attached great importance to sustainability, good communication with his employees and what the company called “entrepreneurial modesty“.  In a tribute, the company added: “ “Despite major economic challenges...he was always open to his employees. He also knew how to convince them of his visions and to share his business goals.“

Outside work, Horst Felbermayr Senior was a respected “gentleman driver“ in the motor racing world. A long-time collaborator with the Proton Competition squad and Porsche, he made his debut at Le Mans as a driver in 1999 and took part in the French endurance classic six times. 

Horst Felbermayr Senior: February 19, 1945 – March 17, 2020

March 17, 2020

Due to the coronavirus, the ESTA spring meetings and the ESTA 2020 Awards dinner, due to take place in Amsterdam on April 23 and 24, have unfortunately both been postponed. We are planning to reschedule them for the autumn and will confirm the date and location as soon as possible.

March 13, 2020

The finalists for the ESTA Awards 2020 have been announced by the jury of experts. There are a maximum of four finalists in each of the ten categories. For the full list go to the Awards section of this website here 

With 24 different companies from 13 countries, the 2020 list of finalists once again shows how the awards have become a major pan-European event. . Photo is of the winning entry from MTD of Poland in 2017.

February 27, 2020

ESTA’s long-running campaign for the introduction of heavy transport and abnormal load corridors across Europe has received a significant boost. 

Brussels and national governments have been under pressure from Europe’s armed forces who are concerned that the poor state of the continent’s infrastructure is hampering their ability to move heavy armaments.

With the support of IRU, the international road transport association, ESTA has been arguing for the creation of heavy transport corridors that could be used for both military and non-military purposes.

In February, the IRU received an update from the European Commission which said that the idea of “dual-use” requirements for the roads has made “great progress”, thanks to the valuable input from ESTA and the IRU.

The dual military and heavy transport proposal was initially discussed with the member states and then considered in more detail in a series of EC committees. Commission sources hope that the proposal will be included in the Connecting Europe Facility 2021-27 Regulation – the mechanism for financing key EU infrastructure networks. 

They expect this to be adopted later this year, although there are concerns that the process might be delayed by budget negotiations in the wake of Brexit. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “Nothing has been achieved yet, of course, but the signs are good that with the help from our friends at IRU our voice has been heard and we are making progress. We are just hoping that having persuaded many people of the wisdom of our case, that the arguments over EU funding do not delays matters too long.”

ESTA has long believed that pan-European corridors for heavy transport and abnormal loads would be more efficient, save money and enable cash-strapped road authorities to focus investment on a number of key routes – an argument that has gained further support in the wake of recent tragic bridge collapses. 

ESTA joined the IRU last year as an affiliate member in a move to increase the organisation’s profile and influence with the European Commission and international road transport authorities. 

The “dual-use” debate started when the IRU was asked for comments by the European Commission on the proposed Action Plan on Military Mobility, and the IRU in turn asked ESTA for its input.  ESTA’s response was accepted in full by the IRU who submitted it to the European Commission.

February 25, 2020

ESTA is stepping up its pressure on European regulators and national governments to harmonize and streamline permitting processes for abnormal loads and to coordinate the introduction of new electronic permitting systems.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn will be raising the issue at April’s meeting of the so-called “Viking” group of transport authorities and regulators in Berlin. Officially called NEXT-ITS 3, the European Union- funded group is coordinated by the Swedish Transport Authority and includes representatives from Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden.

Its role is to study how technology can improve the performance and efficiency of road transport with a particular focus on the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor. 

Ton Klijn said: “This is another example of how we have to take every opportunity to try and bring Europe together for the benefit of all of us. There is absolutely no reason at all why every European state should develop its own electronic permitting system. It is a huge waste of time and money.”

February 10, 2020

Support for ESTA’s new European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) could be given added impetus by a new directive from the European Union.

The directive – EU2018/958 – says that “national rules organising access to regulated professions” should not be used to deny work to qualified professionals from other EU member states.

It comes into force on July 30 this year and includes crane operators within its scope. As a result, any crane operator with a licence recognised by their national authority will be able to work anywhere in the EU.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said that ESTA supported the policy of free movement, but the directive raises issues for the crane industry and its clients due to the huge variance in operator training standards between different countries within the European Union.. 

“In many countries the training is of an excellent standard. But, to be blunt, in others you can get an official operators licence with very little training at all. We knew that this directive was in the pipeline, and was one of the reasons why ESTA started to develop ECOL.”

(Photo courtesy of Liebherr)

January 30, 2020.

The finalists in each of the ten categories of the 2020 ESTA Awards will be announced on March 13, with the winners revealed at the ESTA Awards dinner in Amsterdam on Thursday, April 23. ESTA has received a record number of entries for this year’s event in further evidence of its popularity. 

The awards are run jointly with International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine. For more information, or to book your place, go to the awards page on this website here or www.khl.com/esta. 

January 28, 2020

Laso Transportes from Portugal has become the latest organisation to join ESTA.

The company has been accepted as a Special Member. The news means that the total number of ESTA members, affiliates and supporters stands at its highest-ever level - 80 organisations from 22 countries.

January 25, 2020

Videos of the presentations at the recent World Crane and Transport Summit in Amsterdam are now available for free on the KHL website at https://www.khl.com/magazines/international-cranes-and-specialized-transport/videos

The conference included a strong input from ESTA with debates on the new European Crane Operators Licence, ESTA’s ground-breaking wind industry best practice guide and our ongoing attempts to harmonize regulations for heavy transport and abnormal loads. 

Speakers included David Collett , ESTA President and managing director of the Collett Group; ESTA Director Ton Klijn; and Iffet Türken, ESTA’s Section Transport Vice President. who make an impassioned plea for greater Europe-wide cooperation.

The conference – the seventh - took place on November 13 and 14 at the famous Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam’s Dam Square. 

December 6, 2019

ESTA’s European Crane Operators Licence project received another big boost this week with the news that ECOL has been approved by the European Qualifications Framework. 

Earlier this year, ESTA applied to have the ECOL operator certificate registered and recognised by the Dutch NLQF qualifications framework. Through the NLQF it would be aligned with the EQF across Europe. 

This week the NLQF agency confirmed that the EQF Assessment Committee has approved the EQF qualification of the ECOL standard for the level of EQF 3.

This means that ECOL is now an officially recognised European training standard for mobile crane operators and ECOL will have the right to add the EQF logo to its certificates.

ESTA Director and ECOL Chairman Ton Klijn said: “This is very good news indeed and a marvellous early Christmas present for all ECOL supporters. Official EQF backing is further evidence of the professionalism and high standards underpinning this project.”

November 30, 2019

The Transport Section of the Confederation of Danish Industry (ATL/DI), based in Copenhagen, has become an Ordinary Member. The total of Ordinary Members now stands at 21 following the decision of two Turkish associations AKT and AND to join ESTA earlier this year.

DTL Kran Blok Erfa, part of the Danish Transport and Logistics Association,  has joined as an Affiliate Member, bringing the number of members in that category to 39 companies. ESTA has also confirmed four new supporters - AVI Cranes, CDS, Gebr. Markewitsch and SAE. 

November 29, 2019

Entry forms and full details for ESTA’s 2020 Users’ Night and Awards – organized in conjunction with International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine - are now available on the ESTA website. 

Entries can be made English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and the closing date is January 17th, 2020.  The awards dinner will take place at the Postillion Hotel Amsterdam, in the Netherlands on Thursday, April 23rd next year.

As in previous years, the judges will choose a maximum of four finalists in each category from which one winner will be selected. The finalists in each category will be announced in March 2020 with the winners revealed on the night. 

November 28, 2019

The development of the new European Crane Operators Licence took a major step forward this week with the news that the ECOL Foundation has signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement with the Dutch TCVT-RA, the organisation responsible for issuing crane operators’ licences in the Netherlands. 

The agreement will come into effect from January 1st 2020 and means that – if requested - an ECOL licence holder will receive a Dutch TCVT registration, assuming their ECOL licence is valid and has not been revoked. 

ECOL will now start work on expanding this recognition to Belgium and Denmark, before pursuing discussions with other European authorities. 

ESTA Director and ECOL Chairman Ton Klijn said: “This is a very significant moment for ECOL. That fact that the TCVT-RA is supporting ECOL in such a positive way will hopefully lead to other countries following suit very soon.”

The number of organisations supporting the ECOL project is steaily increasing. Two education and training institutes and three examination institutes have already been certified by ECOL with a further six in the process of qualifying. ECOL has also adapted its systems and structures so that apprentice training is now allowed – something that was a concern in the UK and Germany.

Olaf Beckedorf, Chairman of the Board of German company BigMove, has been unanimously elected to the ESTA Board. BigMove is a Europe-wide network of heavy-duty logistics companies and is a member of ESTA’s German member association BSK. Beckedorf replaces Robert Markewitsch of  Gebr. Markewitsch, who is retiring. 

November 20, 2019

ESTA Section Transport Vice President Iffet Türken has launched an impassioned plea for the continent’s regulators, road authorities and heavy transport companies to work together to make the industry safer and more efficient.

Türken - a board member of trailer manufacturer Kässbohrer - was speaking in Amsterdam at the recent World Crane and Transport Summit. She told the 150-strong audience of senior industry executives that the needs of exceptional transport in Europe are too often ignored both by national governments and the authorities in Brussels.

“Exceptional transport in Europe is largely ‘in the dark’ but everyone involved with the industry should realise that all costs incurred in unnecessary red tape raise the price of European products on world markets,” she said

Türken continued: “ESTA would be delighted to provide a platform for regulators and transport authorities to come together and explore best practice and how they can work together for the benefit of all.

“But above all, we need our national authorities to talk to each other and commit themselves to the development of best practice. “

To ESTA’s considerable frustration, many of its concerns would – in theory at least – be easy and cheap to rectify, but it appears that the necessary changes do not happen because the heavy transport and abnormal load sector does not have the lobbying clout of some other industries.

One example is the proposal to harmonize the marking and lighting regulations for abnormal loads across Europe.

ESTA set up a cross-industry working group led by Türken and Section Transport President André Friderici of Switzerland-based Friderici Spécial to study the different regulations in operation around Europe and produce its own recommendations.

That report was published earlier this year and is now being presented to relevant orgaisations in an attempt to garner their support.

Türken told the Amsterdam conference: “The current situation is absolutely ridiculous. The rules for marking and lighting of abnormal transports are different in every EU country.

“This is perhaps not the most important topic, but a recurring and costly nuisance. Why does everyone want their own signs? And why is a side marking board in one country 50 x 50 cm and in another country 42,5 x 42,5 cm?

“ESTA is trying to get some unity here and we have produced a report with proposals for amendment of the current ECE R48 regulations.”

Türken also reeled off a list of other issues that are hampering the European industry, reducing efficiency and safety.

“Rest time regulations are often impossible to adhere to because of non –alignment with permitted driving periods and an absolute lack of suitable parking places for exceptional transports on the routes we are forced to take. 

“What is more, every nation tries to develop their own systems and there is no ‘best practice’ culture among civil servants. For example, we have a few countries in Europe that have a well-designed and functioning electronic permitting system. There are good examples in Sweden and Holland.

“But every country wishing to introduce electronic permitting tries to re-invent the wheel. The result is a waste of money and time and results in sub-optimal systems being developed that all have different standards.”

Klaus Meissner - director of engineering systems, product safety and IPM for Demag Mobile Cranes - has joined the Supervisory Board of the European Crane Operators Licence scheme.

He took the position following the resignation of Steve Filipov who stepped down in the wake of the Tadano acquisition of Demag from Terex.  

Meissner is also president of the mobile cranes product group of FEM, the European materials handling and lifting equipment federation.

November 4, 2019

A  report on crane hardstands for the installation of onshore wind turbines has been publishd by the Dutch organization STOWA  with the support of ESTA member VVT.

The report is intended for all involved in the onshore wind industry – from designers, engineers, insurers and regulators to equipment suppliers, contractors and subcontractors.

The authors explained: “The size and height of wind turbines on land have grown considerably during the past decades. The cranes needed to install (and to maintain) these turbines have therefore also undergone huge increases in size and weight, resulting in increased crane loads.

“Hardstands for these increasingly heavy cranes demand careful, safe and economical design. At the same time, many location-specific factors play a role in hardstand design, such as crane type, the loads to be lifted, the environment and characteristics of the supporting soil.”

They added that the 133-page publication should be read as ‘a handbook for design’, than as a specific design guideline, and they hope that experience gained using this handbook in the coming years will feed into development of future guidelines.

STOWA is the knowledge centre for the regional water managrs in the Netherlands, supplying information that water managers need to carry out their work. 

The report can be downloaded for free here - https://www.stowa.nl/publicaties/crane-hardstands-installation-wind-turbines

November 1, 2019

Discussions on the urgent need for closer European cooperation and harmonization – whether in safety, permitting regulations or skills certification -dominated proceedings at ESTA’s recent autumn meeting in Piacenza, Italy.

Further details of the issues raised - both in the crane and transport section meetings and also in the members’ only General Assembly – can be found elsewhere on this website. The meetings were held during the GIS construction equipment exhibition, and attendees were also treated to an excellent networking dinner hosted by ESTA Italian member association, ANNA. 

Next year’s autumn meeting will be held in Finland on October 15 and 16, 2020 and will be hosted by ESTA member INFRA. 

October 18, 2019

Next month’s World Crane and Transport Summit in Amsterdam includes a strong input from ESTA with debates on the new European Crane Operators Licence, the ground-breaking wind industry best practice guide and our ongoing attempts to harmonize regulations for heavy transport and abnormal loads. 

The conference – the seventh - takes place on November 13 and 14 at the famous Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam’s Dam Square. 

David Collett , ESTA President and managing director of the Collett Group, will lead discussions on the safe transport and erection of onshore wind turbines and present details of the new best practice guide.

He will be joined on stage by Klaus Meissner, director engineering systems, product safety and IPM, Demag Mobile Cranes; and Gerard Bastiaansen, managing director, Wagenborg Nedlift

Due to be officially launched early next year, the guide has been produced by a special working group created by ESTA with the support of FEM representing the crane manufacturers and VDMA Power Systems whose members include the turbine manufacturers.

Also speaking in Amsterdam are ESTA Director Ton Klijn who will cover the latest developments in the European Crane Operators Licence; and Iffet Türken, ESTA’s Section Transport Vice President, on harmonizing European transport regulations.

The wide ranging WCTS agenda includes trends in the heavy lift and transport markets; developments in crane technologies; lifting and transport issues during bridge construction; and an inside view of Europe’s biggest construction project.

For more, go here https://www.khl-wcts.com

September 24, 2019

The final touches are now being put to ESTA’s new best practice guide for the safe transport and erection of onshore wind turbines. 

Following a series of recent accidents involving manually steered trailers, the working group has decided to include several late amendments.  They include recommendations that a steersman must not be allowed to multi-task or steer the trailer equipment for long distances or for long periods of time.

The discussions have been lead by ESTA with support from German association VDMA Power Systems, the major turbine manufacturers, and the crane manufacturers. 

September 22, 2019

ESTA is determined to give new impetus to expanding its Crane Capacity Index project in 2020. Despite the doubts and resistance from some manufacturers, ESTA is convinced that this is an important issue and will support our safety agenda by increasing industry transparency.

Some manufacturers have argued that the index is too simplistic. However, ESTA believes it provides an important baseline to help purchasers and users understand exactly what type of crane they are dealing with.

The latest version of the crane capacity index is available from the Downloads section of the ESTA website and there will be more on this subject soon.

September 20, 2019

Bulgaria’s heavy transport association has asked for ESTA’s support in pressing the country’s authorities to update their regulations on heavy and abnormal road transport. ESTA President David Collett wrote to Mladen Ganchev, chairman of NSPIT’s board and manager of Bulgarian heavy transport company Holleman to offer ESTA’s backing.

NSPIT - the Bulgarian Association for the Transportation of Oversized Cargoes – joined ESTA last year. The organization was formed three years ago.  Through the letter to Mr Ganchev, David Collett urged the Bulgarian authorities you to align their laws and regulations governing abnormal transport with those in other European countries.

The letter said: “We understand the present system is very expensive and consists of too many components. This causes Bulgarian abnormal transport permits to be amongst the most expensive in Europe.” Collett also recommended that Bulgaria adopts the European Best Practice Guidelines for Abnormal Road Transport, published by the European Commission.

When NSPIT joined ESTA, Mladen Ganchev said at the time: “Our goal at NSPIT is to change many aspects in the law and regulations in Bulgaria, as they are over 20 years old and do not correspond to the modern rules and equipment. The more countries that are represented in ESTA, the better our concerns will be heard, both in Brussels and by our national governments. ” 

September 19, 2019

Turkish heavy transport Association AND has become an ESTA member in a move that will further strengthen international cooperation and help to raise standards in an important and developing market. AND was formed at the end of 2016 by13 companies. Today, it has 73 members who work exclusively in the heavy haulage and abnormal transport sector. 

Selcuk Gormezoglu, President of AND - Ağır Nakliyeciler Derneği – explained: “In the past 10 years, our sector has expanded rapidly and this growth has made it necessary to bring companies under one roof to deal with common problems and issues, and to develop solutions, both nationally and internationally.”

AND’s priorities include lobbying the authorities to update and amend Turkey’s road traffic regulations, both to take account of new technologies and where possible to bring them into line with European standards.  The organisation is also focussing on the standard of contracts as well as improving professional competence and training for drivers using escort vehicles.

September 17, 2019

Robert Markewitsch from German company Gebr. Markewitsch is stepping down from the ESTA Board after six years. His replacement will be agreed at the ESTA meeting in Piacenza, Italy, in October. ESTA President David Collett said: “Robert has been a loyal and committed supporter of ESTA we have all been very grateful for his expertise, support - and good humour. “

September 11, 2019

ESTA has started lobbying European organisations to support plans for the harmonization of marking and lighting regulations for abnormal road transport. The move follows the completion of the first report from the special stakeholder working group created by ESTA just over a year ago.

The report proposes adapting the current ECE R48 regulation as the basis for agreed Europe-wide lighting and marking standards for abnormal road transport, superseding the plethora of confusing local and national rules currently in operation. 

The eleven strong working group was co-chaired by ESTA’s Section Transport President André Friderici and Vice-President Iffet Türken.

“There have been six meetings and the group included all types of stakeholders – transport companies, manufacturers and associations,” Iffet Türken said. “This is the first time that all of the stakeholders have taken a joint position on this subject and I am delighted that we have managed to create a common document.”

ESTA has now started talking to various organisations and authorities throughout Europe to make them aware of the report to try to persuade them to support it. .

The simple idea is that the working group’s recommendations should be used as the basis to amend regulation ECE R48, one of the regulations overseen by the World Forum for the Harmonization of Road Vehicles.

If adopted, all the signatories to the Forum – who include all EU countries – would be required to apply them. Iffet Türken added: “We are playing a long game here. We won’t be able to change things overnight, but we have made a start.”

The working group was set up in early 2018. Apart from ESTA, its members included representatives from BSK, TLN, Tii, Broshuis, Kässbohrer, Hipertrans and Faymonville.

It started by analysing information about the various rules currently in force in different European states. This included the methods of cargo and vehicle marking, rotating beacons, side marker lighting and conspicuity marking. 

ESTA’s members and the European heavy transport industry have long been frustrated by what they see as a plethora of petty and unnecessary regulations that can sometimes be used as a kind of protectionism by local authorities.

September 11, 2019

ESTA is fully involved in the on-going work of agreeing European standards for mobile cranes. Through membership of the Dutch Standards Institute (NEN), ESTA Director Ton Klijn sits on the European Standards Committee CEN/TC 147 alongside the major crane manufacturers and regulator authorities. CEN TC 147 WG 11 is currently working on the new EN13000 norms for mobile cranes which are expected to be published in early 2021. 

September 10, 2019

Next year’s ESTA Spring Meeting and Awards in Amsterdam will be held on April 23 and 24, 2020. Go to the awards section of the ESTA website at or more information plus entry details and deadlines.

August 19, 2019

ESTA’s planned European Crane Operators’ Licence has been awarded ISO 9001-2015 certification after successfully completing the required audit.

The award means that ECOL can now apply to have the licence registered and recognised by the Dutch NLQF qualifications framework. Through the NLQF it will be aligned with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) across Europe. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “This is an important and proud moment for the ECOL project and all of us that have been working so hard to make it a reality. Certification under ISO was a requirement by NLQF for classification of our training system under EQF.

“If everything goes according to plan, we anticipate an answer from NLQF on the classification of ECOL by the end of December. We will start the work on the classification process immediately.”

The ISO 9000 family of quality management standards is designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements. ISO 9001 stipulates the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard must fulfill.

ISO certification represents another major step forward for ECOL which is by far the biggest and most ambitious project ever undertaken by ESTA.

Scroll down for more ECOL stories, or go to www.ecol-esta.eu

August 1, 2019

Japanese crane manufacturer Tadano today announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Demag mobile crane business from its US owner, the Terex Corporation. The total cost of the deal is approximately US$215 million which Tadano will meet from a combination of its own cash reserves and borrowed funds.

In a statement issued this morning, Tadano President and CEO Koichi Tadano said: “The Tadano Group’s long-term goal is to become the global leader in the lifting equipment industry and the Demag Mobile Cranes acquisition is one vital step toward achieving that goal.”

He promised that the transition will be seamless: “Our customers can expect that they will be able to carry out business as usual – right from the very start.

“For the most part you will continue to work with the same Demag sales, service and parts contacts as you have up until now. Only the last part of their respective email addresses will change from ‘@terex.com’  to ‘@tadano.com’.”

A company statement for investors added: “Tadano further seeks to meet customer needs with the addition of lattice-boom crawler cranes to our product line-up as well as the enhancement of our line of all terrain cranes.”

Tadano celebrates the 100th year of its founding this month.  For the full official statements, go here https://www.tadano.com

July 31, 2019

The European Commission’s Wind Harmony project - created to improve safety in Europe’s burgeoning wind energy sector – has agreed to include transportation in the study in response to a request from ESTA.

Transport issues had previously been excluded as the consultants working on it feared that the project would become too wide-ranging.  But following a request from ESTA Director Ton Klijn, the project will now cover on-site transportation and access, although it will still exclude issues such as permitting on main highways.

Ton Klijn said: “We are very pleased at this outcome and the positive response we received from the consultants working on the project to our lobbying. ESTA will be pleased to support it in any way we can.”

The Wind Harmony project will also take into account the work being carried out by the ESTA working ground on safety during the erection and transport of on-shore wind turbines (see below).

July 31, 2019

International road transport association IRU is throwing its weight behind ESTA’s call for a network of abnormal road transport corridors to be created across Europe. ESTA has been arguing that such a policy could be coordinated with recent similar calls from NATO on behalf of Europe’s armed forces. 

The IRU was asked for comments by the European Commission on the proposed Action Plan on Military Mobility, and the IRU in turn asked ESTA for its input. 

ESTA’s response was accepted in full by the IRU who submitted it to the European Commission.

ESTA joined the IRU last year as an affiliate member in a move to increase the organisation’s profile and influence with the European Commission and international road transport authorities. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “We are grateful for support our concerns have received to date from the IRU and we hope that the European Commission takes this opportunity to improve the situation not just for the military, but for abnormal road transport generally.”

He added: “Recent events have also made the clear the value to ESTA of being part of an organisation like the IRU.”

July 30, 2019

The Japan Crane Association voted to join the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly (ICSA) at its board meeting in June, bringing the number of ICSA member organisations to seven. 

Based in Tokyo, the Japan Crane Association (JCA) is a public corporation approved by the country’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Its main objective is to improve safety standards. For more information – in both English and Japanese - go to www.cranenet.or.jp

The ICSA has recently launched a new website here https://icsa-crane.org. 

July 29, 2019

ESTA is planning to step up promotion of its new European Crane Operators’ Licence to the industry’s clients as part of a move to maximise acceptance of the scheme.

ECOL has already received expressions of interest and informal support from companies in the oil and gas, renewable energy and civil engineering sectors and is now hoping to persuade more of the licence’s safety and business advantages.

Meanwhile, ECOL’s awareness continues to grow with the organisation receiving 18 new requests from organisations wanting to find put more about becoming ECOL trainers or examiners.

In addition, the major German organisation GENOSK – the Cooperative for Heavy Transport and Crane Work – has agreed to align its training with the ECOL scheme. 

July 27, 2019

The first draft of ESTA’s new Best Practice Guide on the transport and erection of onshore wind turbines is due to be presented at ESTA’s autumn meeting in Piacenza, Italy in October.

The guide is being produced with support from the crane manufacturer members of FEM – the European Materials Handling Federation – and the turbine manufacturers through VDMA Power Systems, part of the German engineering association. 

July 25, 2019

Netherlands-based heavy lifting and transport specialist Mammoet has today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire leading UK-based rival ALE.

News that the two were in talks first broke in the first week of July. The deal is subject to approval from the relevant competition authorities, but industry insiders do not expect that to be a significant obstacle.

Speaking today, Mammoet CEO Paul van Gelder said: “We are very happy with this agreement. Mammoet and ALE complement each other in geographical presence on all continents. Together, we have a well-balanced portfolio of activities worldwide. This enables us to improve our service proposition and create synergies, as we are able to mobilize equipment and personnel swiftly anywhere.”

He continued: “Last but not least, Mammoet and ALE both have a strong legacy in innovations which, once combined, will enable us to grow as a technologically leading player.”

Mark Harries, Group Managing Director of ALE added that the prospect of two such innovative companies joining forces was very exciting. “We both have shaped the profession of heavy lifting and transport through numerous innovations in the past decades.”

Until competition authority approvals are obtained, Mammoet and ALE will continue to operate independently. The full official statement can be viewed here:

https://www.mammoet.com/news/mammoet-and-ale-to-join-forces/

Mammoet has been at the top of the International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine’s ranking of the world’s largest crane-owning companies since the launch of the league table, now in its 24th year. In recent years ALE rose rapidly to third place in the table. Combining the equipment fleets of both companies will make the new entity’s lifting capability close to double that of its nearest competitor, Sarens.

Mammoet is currently understood to employ around 5,000 people worldwide and is owned by SHV, a privately held Dutch investment company.  ALE is a private company headquartered in the UK. According to the latest accounts at the UK’s Companies House, ALE UK Holdings turned over £193 million in the year to the end of March 2018 and employed just over 1,350 people.

July 8, 2019

Netherlands-based international heavy lift and transport specialist Mammoet is in talks to buy leading UK rival ALE.

Industry experts say they believe the discussions have been underway for several months and are progressing well.  However, any deal is likely to need approval from a number of competition authorities in different markets and the companies are currently continuing to trade as normal.

Both Mammoet and ALE have so far remained tight-lipped about the negotiations although further information is expected to be revealed soon.

July 2, 2019

ESTA has been asked to support a new European Commission study set up to “explore health, safety, and environment (HSE) best practice in the wind power sector”. 

Called the Wind Harmony project, a team of experts will examine HSE standards in construction, operation and maintenance an decommissioning on both onshore and offshore wind sites.  The full press release is here https://thinkrcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/RCG-Media-2019-04-03-EC-HSE-contract-award.pdf

The ESTA guide is being produced with support from both the German engineering association VDMA and FEM – the European Materials Handling Federation - representing the wind turbine and crane manufacturers.

May 23, 2019

David Collett, Managing Director of the UK-based Collett Group, has been unanimously elected as ESTA President for a third – and final – term by ESTA’s ruling General Assembly meeting in Munich in April.

At the same meeting, Iffet Türken, Executive Board Member of Kässbohrer,  was unanimously elected to serve a second term as Vice-President of ESTA’s Section Transport.

May 23, 2019

Patricia Crespin from French association UFL has agreed to join the ESTA Board of Directors, and Łukasz Chwalczuk, from Polish organisation OSPTN, has also been elected a member of the ESTA Board.  He has stepped down from his post as Transport Executive. 

May 15, 2019

ESTA President David Collett has launched a new attack on unnecessary red tape that is damaging both ESTA’s members and wider European industry. 

Speaking at the recent Breakbulk exhibition in Bremen,  he called for the adoption of common, Europe-wide the rules governing escort vehicles; harmonized marking and lighting regulations; and an agreed EU system of online permitting.

He also called on the European authorities to set up a pilot project between two major ports to trial a proposed heavy transport corridor policy. And he again urged transport authorities across Europe to adopt the Special European Registration for Trucks and Trailers (SERT). 

But Collett added: “Perhaps what our industry needs more than anything else is for the permitting and transport authorities to talk to each other on a regular basis. I am sure that debating common problems and spreading best practice would be good for the authorities themselves.

“If there is some way that ESTA could help facilitate such meetings, we would be only too glad to help.”

May 10, 2019

The problems faced across Europe by abnormal road transport operators was the subject of the first of a series of meetings between ESTA and the IRU – the international road transport industry association – in Brussels on May 15.

Those attending were ESTA Director Ton Klijn, Transport Section Vice-President Iffet Türken, Marc Billiet, who leads the IRU’s work on road freight transport and environmental affairs in Europe, and IRU General Delegate Matthias Maedge who heads the work of the IRU’s Brussels office. 

Subjects discussed included the need to harmonize marking and lighting regulations for abnormal loads across Europe and ESTA’s previous work on a best practice guide for abnormal transports.

The meeting also discussed ESTA’s call for a network of heavy transport road corridors across Europe and whether such a policy could be coordinated with recent similar calls from NATO on behalf of Europe’s armed forces. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “It was a very good and productive meeting and we welcomed the opportunity to set out the particular issues faced by our members across Europe."

ESTA joined the IRU last year as an affiliate member in a move to increase the organisation’s profile and influence with the European Commission and international road transport authorities. The IRU will support ESTA in pushing forward the concerns of abnormal road transport onto the Brussels agenda. 

May 2, 2019

The International Crane Stakeholders Assembly (ICSA) held its eighth meeting in Munich in April during the Bauma exhibition.

Hosted by ESTA and FEM – the European Materials Handling Federation – the meeting discussed a draft position paper on the use of cranes on barges, and developments to crane standards EN13000, B30.5 and B30.30. It also debated a draft position paper on the transport and logistics of delivering large wind farm components onto site. 

Apart from ESTA and FEM, organisations attending the meeting were the Crane Industry Council of Australia; the Crane Rental Association of Canada; the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association; the Association of Equipment Manufacturers; and the Japan Crane Association.

The next ICSA meeting will be held in Las Vegas during the 2020 Conexpo exhibition. For more information, go to the ICSA’s new website at www.icsa-crane.org

April 22, 2019

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between ECOL and the British Columbia Association for Crane Safety (BCACS) from Canada. 

The agreement - which was signed in Munich during the Bauma exhibition in April - will in future mean that ECOL card-holders in Europe will be able to work in British Columbia without taking any further tests, and vice versa, as the two bodies’ training standards are fully aligned.  The two organisations hope that the agreement will eventually apply to all of Canada. 

April 18, 2019

Four leading crane manufacturers – Manitowoc, Tadano, Terex and Liebherr – have agreed to align their training operations with the ECOL scheme and its standards, and are currently going through the registration process.

Sarens has also applied to qualify its Belgian training facility under ECOL, and Comokra from Belgium plus Fagioli from Italy are expected to follow suit. Already qualified are the Mammoet Academy in the Netherlands and EUC-Lillebælt from Denmark.

April 15, 2019

ESTA’s European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) project took another significant step forward in April with the first official meeting of the new organization’s Committee of Experts.

The inaugural meeting of the 9-strong committee took place during the Bauma exhibition in Munich. It followed the final meeting of ESTA’s ECOL Working Group in Denmark at the end of January and signals the ECOL project’s transition to its new and permanent management structure.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “This may seem like a bureaucratic change, but it is very important. This  - and other similar developments that we will be announcing in the coming months - will place ECOL on a professional, stable and long-term footing.

“It will help to ensure that we build into the ECOL system the necessary expertise, transparency and accountability so that the industry at large can have  faith in our work and standards.”

The Committee of Experts will advise and assist the ECOL management board in its role of overseeing the day-to-day running of the ECOL system.

The nine members are: Fraser Cocks, BCACS, Canada; Thomas Crauwels, VZW Montage, Belgium; Kim Hvolbøl, DKF, Denmark; Erik Kroes, Mammoet; Pia Metsola, INFRA, Finland; Kim Poulsen, EUC-Lillebælt, Denmark; Norbert van Schaik, Siemens-Gamesa; Lion Verhagen, VVT, the Netherlands; Paul Zepf, VDMA, Germany.

April 12, 2019

Fagioli, Mammoet and Sarens took two prizes each at this year’s ESTA Awards held in Munich on April 11.

The awards dinner, organized jointly by ESTA and International Cranes and Specialize Transport magazine, was one of the biggest ever with more than 530 guests in the ballroom of the Westin Grand Hotel.

Four other winners chosen from the 36 finalists – from ten countries - were Heavy Load Services, Liebherr-Werk Ehingen, Spierings Mobile Cranes and Wagenborg Nedlift.

The independent judging team was coordinated by Wim Richie, and the two judging panels were chaired by Peter van Dam and Willem Spek.

Sponsors of the 2019 awards were as follows:

Gold: Terex-Demag and Liebherr

Silver: Goldhofer, Grove by Manitowoc, Spierings Mobile Cranes and Tadano.

Table wine sponsor: Sennebogen.

Supporting sponsors: Avezaat Cranes, Doll, Faymonville/Cometto, the GIS show, Kässbohrer, Kohler and Scheuerle/Kamag/Nicolas/Tiiger.

For more details on the winners and finalists, so to the ESTA Awards page on this website or to https://www.khl.com/news/esta-award-winners-announced-in-munich/137938.article

March 29, 2019

Turkish heavy cargo lifting and transport association AKT has joined ESTA. Based in Istanbul, AKT has just under 100 members who work throughout Turkey and internationally, and has representatives in the provinces of Ankara, Bursa and Konya.

In a separate move, Combe Driver Services is the latest organization to become an ESTA supporter.  The Swiss training and consulting company specializes in transport and workplace safety. 

March 27, 2019

The ESTA Working Group developing proposals to harmonize European standards and regulations on lighting and marking for heavy transport continues to make progress. The next meeting will be held in April in Munich during the Bauma exhibition. 

The project is lead by André Friderici and Iffet Türken, ESTA”s Section Transport President and Vice-President respectively, with the support of German association BSK; Dutch association TLN; Tii Group; Hipertrans; Broshuis; Kässbohrer; and Faymonville.

The group  hopes to produce draft proposals later this year and then  lobby national authorities and international bodies to make them binding. 

March 19, 2019

Dutch MEP Caroline Nagtegaal has written to the European Commission in support of ESTA’s campaign to develop heavy transport corridors across Europe and reduce the bureaucracy caused by the maze of different permits required by member states.

Her action follows a meeting earlier this month with ESTA Director Ton Klijn who detailed the problems being faced by exceptional transport companies across Europe. 

The timing of the MEP’s intervention is significant as talks are currently underway in Brussels on the financing of key infrastructure networks from 2021 to 2027 under the Connecting Europe Facility. Those discussions include a request from European armed forces and NATO to strengthen the continent’s infrastructure to make it easier to move heavy military loads.

Following the meeting with ESTA – the European Association of Abnormal Road Transport and Mobile Cranes - Nagtegaal has written to the Commission’s transport directorate requesting that the needs of exceptional transport operators as well as the military are included in these talks. 

She also asked the Commission what plans it had to reduce bureaucracy and simplify licensing arrangements for exceptional transport, and she has called on the Commission to “focus on the digitization of permits for exceptional transport, which is already happening for normal truck transport within the European Union”.

Nagtegaal has experience of the transport sector having previously worked for the Royal Schiphol Group in Amsterdam and the Port of Rotterdam Authority. 

She said: “I am optimistic that my and ESTA’s concerns will be taken seriously and acted upon because it fits into the EU’s Connecting Europe strategy, something that is high profile.

“I will also be raising this issue with colleagues active in the transport sector and with other countries within the European Parliament’s Liberal Group. ESTA’s concerns are a clear example of how the internal market needs to be developed and reformed.”

March 11, 2019

ESTA has been looking at the lessons Europe can learn from the experiences of abnormal load and heavy transport organisations in the USA. 

Last month, ESTA Director Ton Klijn and Section Transprt President André Friderici spoke at the annual Specialized Transportation Symposium run by the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association in Houston.

The invitation from the SC&RA came following informal conversations between the two organisations about the SC&RA’s Uniform Permit Transport initiative which aims to harmonize weight allowances and permitting systems across all US states – something that ESTA is attempting to do in Europe.

Ton Klijn said: “From an ESTA perspective, we have been very impressed by the way that the SC&RA has built relationships with transport authorities right across the USA and we are sure there are lessons that we can take from that success.

 “Globally, heavy transport companies are facing similar problems with local regulations and bureaucracy, and I am sure we can learn from each other about how best to overcome the obstacles we face.”

The value of international cooperation was a point also stressed by Steven Todd,  SC&RA Vice President.

“This year’s event, I am pleased to say, was a great success, with almost 600 attendees and over 70 government officials of different sorts – and I believe that the international theme was a significant reason for that success.

“From this meeting in Houston it was clear that there are things the different participants can learn from each other. For example, here in the US we have been doing a lot of work – and with some success – on automating and harmonizing systems for single permit trip authorizations, and common tractor/trailer configerations. It may be that we can help ESTA with our experience of this work to date. 

“On the other hand, we were very interested to hear about ESTA’s work on producing a best practice guide for the safe transport and erection of onshore wind turbines. I am sure that this work will be of great interest to us.”

Whether such increased cooperation will lead to the creation for the transport sector – an equivalent of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly – is not clear at present, as many on both sides of the Atlantic are wary of creating additional work and bureaucracy.

But at the very least it seems that increased informal ties could benefit the industry at large.

February 28, 2019

Global crane and heavy transport specialist Sarens has applied to qualify its Belgian training facility under ESTA’s new European Crane Operators Licence.

The move is another big boost for the ECOL scheme. To date, two European training facilities have become ECOL qualified – Mammoet in the Netherlands and EUC-Lillebǣlt from Denmark - with a further six at different stages in the qualifying process.

“For an international company like Sarens, ECOL is a very important project, and we want to be involved and support it,” said Stijn Sarens, the company’s key account manager and ESTA Secretary.

"Standards of crane operator training are hugely variable across Europe. ECOL will help to raise those standards to a common level. It will make the industry safer and more efficient, allowing properly qualified crane operators to work more easily in different countries throughout the EU and beyond.” 

He added: “That will be good for the operators, good for companies like Sarens and good for our clients.”

February 2, 2019

The new future management team of ESTA’s planned European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) project is almost complete as the project nears its formal launch early this year. 

The final meeting of the current ECOL Working Group was hosted by crane company BMS in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of January.

The voluntary group, chaired by ESTA Director Ton Klijn, has been responsible for driving the project from its inception. It will now be superceded by the ECOL Foundation comprising a tri=partite permanent management structure featuring a Supervisory Board, a Management Board and an Expert Board.

The Supervisory Board will be chaired by Ton Klijn who will be joined by trade union representative René van der Steen from Het Zwarte Corps in the Netherlands and Steve Filipov from Terex Demag.

Confirmed members of the Expert Board to date are:

Fraser Cocks – BCACS, Canada

Kim Hvolbøl – DKF, Denmark

Erik Kroes – Mammoet, Netherlands

Pia Metsola – INFRA, Finland

Lion Verhagen  - VVT , Netherlands

Paul Zepf  - VDMA, Germany

Norbert van Schaik - Siemens-Gamesa, Germany

Kim Poulsen - EUC – Lillebǣlt, Denmark

Members of the Management Board are expected to be announced soon. 

Meanwhile, recognition of the potential value of ECOL is also gaining ground. The Copenhagen meeting heard that Sarens Belgium  have applied to qualify their training facility under ECOL and  Ton Klijn was asked to present the ECOL system to an internal meeting of lifting experts from the oil and gas giant ExxonMobil. 

Klijn also announced that ECOL has also started the process of qualifying the ECOL Foundation under ISO9001. 

January 19, 2019

ESTA’s planned European Crane Operators’ Licence  is receiving growing support from major clients who see it as a way of improving performance and safety on site

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “There are very good signs that client organisations are beginning to see the advantages of ECOL. Informally, we have already had strong signs of support from the wind industry and I believe there is growing interest in the oil and gas sector and engineering construction sectors as well.”

Klijn’s views were echoed by Leon Schopping, a former Shell construction manager and principle technical expert for lifting and hoisting, a role in which he got to know the issues facing ESTA members well. Today he is construction/heavy lift and transport manager for contracting giant Fluor.

Speaking in a personal capacity, he said: “Personally, I think ECOL is a fantastic idea. As an industry client, we have long struggled with the problem of judging whether a crane operator is truly qualified – and qualified to do what. 

“To create one common qualification platform – as distinct from a plethora of different and varying national qualifications - will make life for a client much easier, especially if it is at a level that gives you a certain assurance that the operator knows that they are doing.

“If crane operators are “self assured” by their employers, the crane rental company, that can be a concern. Without common standards, operators are not necessarily assured to a recognized level. 

“So a common standard such as the ECOL could raise safety standards – and that is what it is all about. We are all working towards the safest possible workplace and this could be a significant improvement.”

He added: “ESTA and its Director Ton Klijn deserve a huge amount of credit for driving this project forward. If they succeed in their aims, it will be of great benefit to the whole industry.”

January 21

ESTA Director Ton Klijn and Section Transport President André Friderici have accepted an invitation to speak at February’s specialized  transportation symposium organised by the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association in Dallas, USA.

The invitation from the SC&RA came following informal conversations between the two organisations about the SC&RA’s Uniform Permit Transport initiative which aims to harmonize weight allowances and permitting systems across all US states.

“Globally, heavy transport companies are facing similar problems with local regulations and bureaucracy, and I am sure we can learn from each other about how best to overcome the obstacles we face,” Ton Klijn said. 

For more information about the symposium , go to the events section of the SC&RA website at www.scranet.org.

January 10, 2019

The International Crane Stakeholders Assembly is working on two new position papers – on the transport and erection of large wind farm components and the use of cranes on barges.

The latest meetings of the user and manufacturer groups that make up the ICSA took place in Melbourne late last year with experts from Australia, Europe, Japan and the USA.

Delegates also discussed the impact of High Performance Fibre Rope on lifting charts and debated the cost, winch drum and sheave hardware complications along with weight distribution issues that will arise in crane design .

In addition, the meeting also heard about the latest development to crane standards EN13000, B30.5 and B30.30.

The organisations that attended the ICSA meeting were ESTA, Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association, Crane Industry Council of Australia, European Materials Handling Federation, Association of Equipment Manufacturers and a delegation from the Japan Crane Association. 

December 16, 2018

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. 

The discussions are being lead by ESTA with the support of German association BSK, the crane manufacturers and VDMA Power Systems, the part of the German Engineering Federation whose members include the major turbine manufacturers.

Talks have been on-going for over a year as part of ESTA’s attempts to improve safety standards and onsite efficiency.

Safety concerns have been growing with the development of new, bigger turbines with greater hub heights, downward pressure on costs along the supply chain and the increasing use of hard-to-access sites with difficult ground conditions.

ESTA, FEM and VDMA Power Systems plan to produce a core best practice document, backed up by other more detailed technical guidance documents such as the FEM 5.016 Guideline – Safety Issues in Wind Turbine Installation and Transportation (EN – 2017).

“We have agreed the overall scope and content of the document, and we are now working on the detail,” said ESTA Director Ton Klijn. “There is still a lot to do, but we are optimistic that a first draft the new guidelines will be published very early in the New Year.”

The guidelines are expected to include subjects such as common dimensions and standards for access roads, contractual considerations for operating companies and the methods of calculating the ground bearing pressure and construction features for crane pads.

November 27, 2018

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. 

The working group hopes the rules will encourage experienced operators from countries that have joined the ECOL system to become ECOL qualified.

The key elements of the plan are as follows:

- crane operators with less than four years of operating experience will have to do the full ECOL training and examination.

- crane operators with four to eight years of operating experience will have to complete a three-week training, consisting of 40 hours practice and 80 hours theory, and take the examination.

- crane operators with eight or more years of operating experience will have to complete a one-week training, consisting of 16 hours of practice and 16 hours of theory, after which they will take the examination.

The working group has agreed to define “a year of experience” as a year in which the operator has proven record of operating a crane for at least 500 hours.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “I am very pleased with the progress we are making. There is still a lot of work to do, but agreeing a system for managing experienced operators is a big step forward.”

October 30, 2018

The latest ICSA (International Crane Stakeholders Assembly) meeting was hosted by the Crane Industry Council of Australia on 22-23 October following CICA’s national conference in Melbourne.   

ICSA is a meeting of international associations representing the crane and rigging industry and crane manufacturers with the goal of sharing information, networking and the harmonisation of industry standards.

See  the latest ICSA Press release here

October 15, 2018

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 where his support and expertise was of great assistance in helping up take our ECOL project to the verge of being launched.

He had over 25 years of national and international senior management and board-level experience in industry, and served as an advisor to a number of organizations regarding standards and accreditation systems applicable across national and international frameworks. Gunnar was also a partner and co-founder of SkillRecord Systems Inc., supporting skilled occupations and trades in Canada.

Fraser Cocks, Executive Director of the British Columbia Association for Crane Safety and also a member of the ECOL working group, said: “Gunnar was a true rock for all of us. He was a solid presence, always there, always willing to be of service, sharing his reasonable, balanced Gunnar views on situations.”

ESTA Director Ton Klijn added: “I have come to know Gunnar as a loyal and committed member of our ECOL workgroup who strongly advanced our project with the Canadian authorities. His contributions in our workgroup meetings will be dearly missed. 

“Our thoughts go out to his family, especially his partner Diane and their two children.”

September 20, 2018

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.

When Liebherr is ECOL “approved”, it will be able to train and test operators for the ECOL-licence and can use the ECOL logo. In addition, Liebherr’s respected crane operator course can be credited to the ECOL licence.

Liebherr will have to make some small adjustments to its current training schemes to bring them into line with ECOL`s standards. This means that a current Liebherr- certified operator will probably have to carry out some extra training to gain an ECOL certificate although the exact details have yet to be agreed.

ECOL will also be able to use part of Liebherr’s certified e-learning system for Training and re-training purposes.

Christoph Behmüller of the Training Department at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen said that ECOL has long been supported by Liebherr and the crane manufacturers through FEM.  “ECOL is another important step towards more safety in crane operation. It is a great concern of ours to support and promote this project,” he said. 

The agreement means that any operator that passes the future “aligned” Liebherr training will also be eligible to receive an ECOL licence - provided the operator registers with ECOL and the organisation’s SkillRecord system that logs his or her experience

The issue of the acceptance of foreign ECOL licences by Liebherr for use in Germany will be covered by a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) as it’s currently arranged with other organisations across Europe.

“This is a great vote of confidence in ECOL from one of the world’s leading manufacturers,” said ESTA Director Ton Klijn. “I am very pleased with the outcome of our talks.”

He added: “This is just another example of the tremendous support that ECOL has throughout the industry, and how the project can be a major force for good – by raising standards, improving safety and making us more efficient.” 

I

n the meantime, ESTA is repeating its call for 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.

“We are calling on any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible. We hope that training organisations across Europe will see working with ECOL as a great business opportunity.”

To date, ESTA has run one ECOL “test” pilot project at Mammoet’s training centre in Rotterdam. The next pilot project will take place in Denmark on September 17 and will be followed by two more, in the Netherlands and Italy, before the scheme goes live early in 2019. 

September 7, 2018

ESTA is “cautiously optimistic” about workload prospects in the European crane rental sector as public finances continue to improve after the 2008 crash. 

Serious concerns remain about the impact of Brexit and the growing climate of protectionism - along with the unnecessary bureaucracy and petty local regulations - prevailing in several European markets.

But recent European construction industry forecasts have been positive for almost all sectors from housing and commercial building through to the energy, water, transport and telcomms markets, and that bodes well for the sector’s workload in the short and medium terms.

ESTA’s Section Cranes President Wouter van Noort said: “The day rental sector is very busy throughout Europe and there is good demand for mobile cranes, especially at the smaller end of the market.

“The market in bigger projects is really challenging at the moment – but it is beginning to come back and I am optimistic that by the second half of  2019 and into 2020 the European market will be stronger.”

Van Noort, who is Managing Director of Mammoet Europe, said that despite the major project slowdown, there is still a fair amount of maintenance and upgrade work in power stations, refineries and the wider oil and gas industry. 

The decommissioning of nuclear power stations and wind energy – both on- and off-shore – are also reasonably strong markets.

He added: “Geographically, there are not huge differences across Europe. Of course, workload is stronger in some countries than others, but the variation is not too great, especially now that the southern European countries that were hit hardest by the 2008 crash are seeing a solid recovery.”

The latest construction forecasts were published recently by Euroconstruct, a body that brings together construction market consultants and economists from 19 European countries.

The organization said that the market was growing well on the back of low interest rates, good economic performance and pent-up demand. 

It added that increasing tax revenues across Europe are allowing for greater investment in public construction, transport networks and other infrastructure, with the market’s strength  increasingly focused on civil engineering while housing weakens. 

As a result it is predicting that the construction sector as a whole will grow by 6.25 per cent in real terms by the end of 2020 with growth in road and bridge construction – a key civil engineering indicator – forecast to expand by over 16 per cent in the same period. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn added: “If these forecasts prove correct, we are cautiously optimistic that ESTA’s European crane rental and heavy transport members can expect reasonably stable workloads between now and the end of 2020.

“But we have to bear in mind that workload on its own does not solve the problems of protectionism, unnecessary bureaucracy and unsustainably low prices.”

August 31, 2018

Current low crane rental rates in Europe are unsustainable and risk doing the industry and its clients long term damage by limiting investment in technology and skills, ESTA Director Ton Klijn has warned.

He called on the industry to consider moving away from traditional rental work an increasing the number of contract lifts – where the rental company takes responsibility for managing, planning and supervising the lift, as well as providing the crane and operator. 

Such an arrangement allows the crane rental company to use its knowledge and expertise to take more responsibility from the client – and of course to charge more as a result

Speaking this week, Klijn said: “The European crane rental market is in reasonable shape in terms of workload although there is a declining number of very big projects 

“But the main problem from our members’ point of view is that rental rates are at a historically low level and in my view are unsustainable.

“In real terms they are lower than they were in the 1970s and even a successful company with full utilization can’t make any money.”

He added: “In the short term, clients might benefit from such low prices. But in the long term they affect investment at all levels in the industry from those in new technologies and equipment through to training and skills. 

“Ultimately in the future our industry’s clients will pay a price in terms of lower quality, reduced efficiency and poorer performance.”

Certainly, as an industry, we need to raise rates to give us the room to make a reasonable return and to invest in the future. 

August 21, 2018

ESTA is planning to increase its involvement in the on-going work of developing European standards for mobile cranes.

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.

The CEN/TC 147 committee works on the development and maintenance of safety standards affecting the design, manufacture and information relating to cranes. This means ESTA will have a voice in determining new norms for the construction of mobile cranes according to the European standard EN 13000. Previously, ESTA could only attend the meetings as an observer. 

CEN – the European Committee for Standardization – has thirty four national members who work together across different industrial sectors to develop European standards to support the single market. 

July 20, 2018

ESTA Director Ton Klijn is to start lobbying European national governments in a fresh attempt to persuade them to adopt the European Best Practice Guidelines for Abnormal Road Transport, first published in a European Commission Transport Directive back in 2005. 

The directive contains SERT, the Special European Registration for Trucks and Trailers, intended to reduce the paperwork and bureaucracy faced by the industry.

The worsening problem of obtaining permits in many countries was the subject of a passionate debate at the most recent meeting of ESTA’s Section Transport where some members referred to the “ever increasing web of bureaucracy” that is hampering the heavy transport industry.

Ton Klijn said: “We will be knocking on as many doors as we can and directly lobbying national governments. In particular, we will be talking to our new members and contacts in eastern Europe, some of whom are facing particular difficulties.”

To date only the Dutch road traffic authority RDW issues SERT documents with new vehicles, and it is accepted as an information document by the Belgian, Swedish and English road traffic authorities.

But ESTA hopes that with authorities throughout Europe under on-going financial pressure, they will see that an agreed Europe-wide registration system – as part of accepted best practice guidelines -  will save time and money as well as making an important industry safer and more efficient.  

New best practice guidelines for the safe transportation and erection of onshore wind turbines could be published before the end of the year, according to ESTA, the European association for abnormal road transport and mobile cranes. 

The news follows the latest round of discussions between ESTA and the wind turbine manufacturers in Hamburg.

“We have agreed the overall scope and content of the document, and we are now working on the detail,” said ESTA Director Ton Klijn.  “There is still a lot to do and we will need several more meetings of the working group yet, but we are optimistic that the new guidelines will be published by the end of this year.”

The guidelines are expected to include subjects such as common dimensions and standards for access roads and the methods of calculating the ground bearing pressure for crane pads. Talks have been on-going for over a year as part of ESTA’s attempts to improve safety standards and onsite efficiency.

The discussions are being lead by ESTA with the support of German association BSK, the crane manufacturers and VDMA Power Systems, the part of the German Engineering Federation whose members include the major turbine manufacturers.

Safety concerns have been growing with the development of new, bigger turbines with greater hub heights, downward pressure on costs along the supply chain and the increasing use of hard-to-access sites with difficult ground conditions.

ESTA, FEM and VDMA Power Systems plan to produce a core best practice document, backed up by other more detailed technical guidance documents such as the FEM 5.016 Guideline – Safety Issues in Wind Turbine Installation and Transportation (EN – 2017).

July 12, 2018

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

NSPIT hopes that joining will increase ESTA’s influence in the Balkans and also make ESTA itself stronger “The more countries that are represented in ESTA, the better our concerns will be heard, both in Brussels and by our national governments, ” said Mladen Ganchev, chairman of NSPIT’s board and manager of Bulgarian heavy transport company Holleman. 

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May 31, 2018

The first trial of the new European Crane Operators Licence scheme has been successfully completed at Mammoet’s training centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Four crane operators were processed through the ECOL system which involved 240 hours of training split evenly between theory and practice. So far, three have passed – one at the second attempt – and one failed, although he will have the chance to retake the test in the near future.

The operators themselves strongly backed the ECOL project, saying that they could see great value in being able to work throughout Europe without having to be retested by local regulators in every country. 

The ECOL organisers now intend to run three more pilot projects, one more in the Netherlands plus one each in Denmark and Italy. 

May 31, 2018

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.

May 15, 2018

Pressure is growing on the European Union and national transport authorities to agree heavy transport corridors throughout Europe in the wake of increasing concern 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 the transport section of ESTA, the European Association of Abnormal Road Transport and Mobile Cranes.

The meeting heard presentations from Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy and Poland , all of whom made the same key points – that the present systems are over-complex, expensive, reduce safety and put up costs for the industry’s clients and ultimately their customers.

The issue has been given extra impetus following the recent NATO military exercises in Europe. Sources in Brussels have said that the EU will be looking at a new plan to help military equipment to move quickly and avoid border delays and weak roads and bridges.

ESTA hopes that this work will lead to a network of routes being developed that can also be used for heavy transport as well as for military purposes.

April 30, 2018

Mammoet Europe Managing Director Wouter van Noort has joined the ESTA Board as the new representative of the Dutch crane association VVT and has been confined as the new president of the ESTA Section Cranes. 

The board decision was ratified by the ESTA General Assembly meeting in Paris in April. 

Wouter van Noort succeeded Sander Splinter as Mammoet Europe Managing Director at the end of last year after Splinter resigned to become Managing Director of ERIKS Nederland, the mechanical engineering and technical services firm. Like Mammoet, ERIKS is a subsidiary of SHV, the privately-owned Dutch trading conglomerate. Splinter’s resignation meant he was no longer eligible to sit on ESTA’s board representing VVT or to serve as President of the Section Cranes.

Current Vice President of the Section Cranes is Alexandre Vernazza, President of Group Mediaco in France. He declined to become Section Cranes President for this term of office due to his workload. He has only recently taken over the ESTA Vice President’s role and has also agreed to become the new President of the French crane association, Union Francaise du Levage (UFL). 

April 30, 2018

Almost 400 guests attended the 2018 ESTA Awards of Excellence in Paris in April, held during the Intermat exhibition. The annual event is renowned as the largest and best crane and heavy transport party in Europe.

“All the finalists showed once again the high standards and tremendous professionalism in this industry”, said David Collett, ESTA President and Managing Director of the Collett Group. Full details of the finalists and winners are in the awards section of this website

April 30, 2018

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. 

March 4, 2018

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. 

Along with ESTA and Dutch association TLN, the IRU was instrumental in obtaining European Commission support to resolve the dispute with Spain last year after the country tried to enforce new regulations that discriminated against international hauliers. 

Explaining the decision, ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “Our clear goal is to get exceptional transport much higher up the agenda of the relevant authorities, and the IRU can help us do that.

“The IRU is a highly professional lobbying organization and by joining them, ESTA will have much more clout than we could have on our own.”

The IRU’s global headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, and has offices worldwide, including in Brussels, Beijing, Moscow and Istanbul. 

www.iru.org/resources/newsroom/iru-welcomes-new-member-esta

March 3, 2018

Four organisations have agreed to take part in this month’s pilot – or test - run of the new European Crane Operators Licence scheme being launched by ESTA.

Fagioli’s Corporate Academy from Italy and EUC Lillebǣlt from Denmark have signed up as have both SOMA and the Mammoet Training Centre from the Netherlands. 

ESTA started work on a Europe-wide operator licence for mobile crane operators back in 2013 in an attempt to raise standards, improve safety and ease skills shortages.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “We are making excellent progress, and we want to trial the system with selected groups to ensure that it is working effectively before it goes fully live.”

Assuming that the pilot work goes to plan, ESTA will then be in a position to request the European Qualifications Framework to have ECOL registered and recognised at EQF Level 2 across Europe. 

Currently each EU member state has its own rules for professional competence and the certification of crane operators. It is ESTA’s intention to enable every crane operator in Europe to demonstrate that he or she meets the minimum requirements of the industry.

ECOL is receiving funding under Erasmus+, the new European funding programme for education, youth and sport (2014-2020).

For more information, go to www.ecol-esta.eu. or contact ESTA directly.

February 1, 2018

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 technical working group at the end of January.

Organised by ESTA, the meeting took place in Frankfurt and was hosted by the German association and ESTA member BSK.

The eleven-strong group was co-chaired by ESTA’s Section Transport President André Friderici, technical director of Friderici Special, and Vice-President Iffet Türken, Executive Board Member of Kässbohrer.

 As a first step, the group has started collecting and analysing information about the different regulations currently in force in different European states. This includes the methods of cargo and vehicle marking; rotating beacons; side marker lighting and conspicuity marking. 

“This is a really important issue - unnecessary and often petty rules, differing from country to country, make the industry less efficient and less safe and ultimately put up costs for our clients,” Iffet Türken explained. 

“What is more, such rules can be used as a form of protectionism to discriminate unfairly against international carriers,” she added. 

Apart from ESTA and BSK, organisations on the working group were the Dutch association TLN; Tii Group; Hipertrans, Broshuis, Kässbohrer and Faymonville. 

ESTA hopes that the new working group will produce best practice standards that can be adopted by national government and international bodies to make them binding.

Details of the project were first announced at ESTA’s autumn meeting in Krakow, Poland. Hosted by OSPTN, the Polish Heavy Transport Association, the Krakow meeting was attended by almost 250 ESTA members and guests from 25 countries.

December 4, 2017

Reducing accidents and improving safety during the erection and transportation of on-shore wind turbines will be the focus of the third edition of the popular ESTA and FEM Experts Summit in Hamburg on March 6.

The one day conference and reception, will feature leading industry speakers from across the sector and will follow up the work started at the 2017 event, especially on the development of new safety policies and best practice guides.

The conference will also include “bonus” sessions on the safety implications of the new European Crane Operators Licence and developing a meaningful safety culture. 

The conference has the support of the leading wind turbine manufacturers through VDMA Power Systems, part of the leading German engineering and manufacturing trade association. 

Concern about safety standards on site has long been worrying ESTA’s members and the leading crane manufacturers – members of the Cranes and Lifting Equipment Product Group of FEM (the European Materials Handling Federation).

Key subjects include the increasing size of wind turbines, bad ground conditions and inadequate project planning – coupled with poor communication along the supply chain. 

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “This is an important issue now because the height of the turbines is increasing and with the cranes we have now, we are using them to their limit.

“As the tower heights increase further, we see even bigger cranes having to be used, which in turn affects the requirements for the hard stands, which have to withstand higher ground pressures and increase in size.

“In addition, the access roads also have to be stronger.

“The greater heights mean there is more wind pressure on the boom and the load. This means the time window in which the lift can safely be carried out is further reduced.  And that has both safety and cost implications.

“There needs to be much better communication between the developers, the contractors, the turbine manufacturers and the crane and transport companies, including the crane and trailer manufacturers.”

He added: “We would encourage all of our members and affiliates to support this important event.

“We have kept delegate and sponsorship prices as low as possible as we are not looking to make a profit, but just to break even and publicise what is an important and increasingly serious issue.”

David Collett, ESTA President and Managing Director of the Collett Group, is one of the driving forces behind proposals for an industry-wide best practice guide.

He said: “As an industry, we are challenged to deliver a safe solution, and we have to comply with all the relevant health and safety regulations, but the problem is that the site might have been designed dangerously in the first place, before the crane or transport company became involved.

“Quite simply, the quality of the pre-planning and the quality of communication between all the stakeholders is the key issue – that is what we have to improve, and that is why we are so keen to develop better relationships with the developers and turbine manufacturers and their contractors.”

ESTA and FEM Experts Summit

Delivering safety and best practice in on-shore wind farm construction

Plus bonus sessions on:

- building a practical safety culture 

- safety and the new European Crane Operators Licence

For further information please contact the ESTA main office or go to www.estaeurope.eu/summit

December 4, 2017

The European Crane Operators Licence scheme is undergoing its final round of preparations before its trial “pilot” launch in the Spring of 2018.. 

ESTA Director Tom Klijn presented the latest developments to delegates at the World Crane and Transport Summit in Amsterdam in November.

He then hosted a separate “multiplier” seminar for those interested in hearing about the scheme in much greater detail – a meeting that also raised the possibility of liaising with Liebherr on their e-learning scheme. 

ESTA still has a few vacancies for training and examination organisations to take part in the trial pilot project and also wants to sign up would-be ECOL operators to participate in the same exercise. Candidates can be novices that have to be trained from scratch, or operators with demonstrable experience.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “We have had an excellent response to our work to date, but we want to get a broad range of people and organisations involved in the pilot, so we are calling on any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible.”

November 1, 2017

ESTA’s General Assembly in October confirmed the following changes at the top of the organisation:

- Stijn Sarens of Sarens becomes ESTA Secretary

- Alexandre Vernazza of Mediaco  has taken over as Vice-President, Section Cranes.

- Jens Enggaard of BMS, becomes ESTA Treasurer, taking over from Hendrik Sarens whose term has ended.

Stijn Sarens and Alexandre Vernazza took over the positions vacated by Ton Klijn when he succeeded Søren Jansen as ESTA Director in the summer.

November 1, 2017

Next year’s ESTA Users Night and Awards 2018 will take place at the Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on: Thursday, April 26, 2018, during the Intermat exhibition.

The evening has long been hailed as the best networking event in the industry and an excellent opportunity for all member associations – and their members - to present their companies and successes on a European platform.

The awards are run in partnership with International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine and full details are on the ESTA website at www.estasurope.eu. Entry forms can be found here

As in previous years, there are ten categories and one winner will be selected in each category out of a maximum of four finalists. The finalists in each category will be announced in the last week of February.

Awards entries can be submitted in English or in one of the following languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish.


 The closing date is January 19, 2018. 

* ESTA member Associations and Special Members are entitled to six free dinner seats, and ESTA Supporters can have one free dinner seat. Registration for these seats is required. Contact the ESTA Office for more details. 

November 1, 2017

ESTA’s Section Transport is planning to create a new technical working group in an attempt to harmonize standards and regulations governing lighting and marking on heavy transport throughout Europe.

The plethora of different regulations cause unnecessary costs and bureaucracy and impede cross-border trade. Some in the industry fear that local regulations are used to obstruct the work of international hauliers. 

The new working group was announced by Section Transport President André Friderici and Vice President Iffet Türken at ESTA’s autumn meeting in Krakow, Poland. 

The successful meeting and dinner attracted almost 250 ESTA members and guests from 25 countries. Hosted by OSPTN, the Polish Heavy Transport Association, it was one of the biggest heavy transport and lifting events held in the country.

ESTA hopes that the new working group will produce best practice standards that can be adopted by national government and international bodies to make them binding.

Any organisations interested in joining the technical working group should contact the ESTA office as soon as possible.

November 1, 2017

Poland hosted the 2017 ESTA Autumn Meetings in Krakow on October 19 and 20 – the first time that ESTA has met in Eastern Europe. 

Organised by the Polish Heavy Transport Association (OSPTN), ESTA’s General Assembly along with the transport and cranes sections met at the Sheraton Grand Hotel near the Vistula River. In the evening, an official networking dinner was held 125 meters underground in the famous Salt Mine in Wieliczka where guests weere entertained by live music, magicians and art shows.

The autumn dinner is open to ESTA member associations and their members; affiliate members; supporters; and sponsors. The Section Crane and Transport meetings are open to ESTA members, affiliates and supporters. The General Assembly is only open to ESTA members.

October 10, 2017

ESTA is looking for training and examination organisations to take part in a trial pilot project for a new European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) in February next year. 

It is also wants to sign up would-be ECOL operators to participate in the same exercise. Candidates can be novices that have to be trained from scratch, or operators with demonstrable experience.

ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “We are calling on any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible.

“We hope that training organisations across Europe will see working with ECOL as a great business opportunity - while at the same time helping make our industry safer, more professional and more efficient.”

Read more

October 10, 2017

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.

One of the most vocal critics of Spain’s action was TLN, the Dutch Association for Transport and Logistics and a leading ESTA member.

Ambro Smit, TLN’s policy advisor on technical affairs, said: "We are very pleased that Spain has been forced by the Commission to change this absurd and discriminatory regulation.  

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June 15, 2017

Søren Jansen is to step down from the post of  ESTA Director at the end of June. ESTA Secretary Ton Klijn will take over until the appointment of a new director can be announced at ESTA’s autumn meeting in Krakow, Poland.

Jansen, who has both business and engineering degrees, has spent more than 30 years in the crane industry and is a former President and CEO of Danish crane rental company, BMS. He has long played a major role in trying to improve safety standards and raise awareness of safety issues, working closely with the major crane manufacturers. 

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June 1, 2017

ESTA’s ground-breaking project to establish a European Crane Operator Licence (ECOL) is making good progress. 

A meeting of ESTA’s ECOL Working Group on May 15 has agreed a date to trial the project – February 1, 2018. “Once everything is in place, we will trial the system with selected groups to ensure that it is working effectively before it goes live,” ESTA Secretary Ton Klijn said.

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June 1, 2017

ESTA is supporting a twin-track approach in an attempt to reduce accidents during the transportation and erection of on-shore wind turbines. 

The issue has been raised by ESTA and FEM in the wake of the organisations’ successful specialist conference on the subject in Hamburg in February. 

Following that conference, ESTA and FEM met VDMA Power Systems, part of the German Engineering Federation and whose members include the major turbine manufacturers. The VDMA is also discussing developing new best practice guidelines

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The ICSA is working on new guidance on the use of mobile cranes on floating barges following the Alphen aan den Rijn accident in Holland, in which two cranes and part of a prefabricated bridge fell on several buildings in August 2015.

Chaired by the SC&RA, Mammoet and Sarens have agreed to share their internal guidelines and the work will also draw on guidelines operated by the US Corps of Engineers, which has responsibility for many of the waterways in the USA, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Labor.

ESTA Director Søren Jansen said: “There is a lot of experience in various companies and organisations, but to date had not been brought together for the benefit of the industry as a whole.

“The idea is to pull all this expertise together to produce a document that can have a major impact on improving safety standards.”

ESTA has been invited to raise its concerns about safety during the construction of on-shore wind farms at a meeting with VDMA Power Systems in April.

The meeting follows the success of the experts’ safety summit organized last month in Hamburg by ESTA and the Mobile Crane Product Group of FEM, the European Materials Handling Federation.

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Earlier we informed you about the problems in Spain regarding new legislation for exceptional transport. For the release of exceptional transport permits, Spain makes a distinction between Spanish transporters and foreign transporters in the new legislation. Foreign transporters cannot use long-term exemptions and they have to cope with stricter regulations when incidental transport permits are issued. This is contrary to the basic principles of the EU regarding equality and non-discrimination of free-trade and services. TLN and other countries have raised this issue with the IRU. IRU lawyers sent a letter to the European Commission in response. As a result the European Commission forwarded an official complaint to Spain. For now, we’re waiting for a reaction from Spain and possible next steps from the Commission. The main goal is to induce Spain to adapt her legislation, but this might take a while. We will inform you as soon as there are new developments.

 Source: TLN newsletter 27/10/2016

Mrs. Iffet Türken was elected ESTA’s new Transport Vice President at the organisation’s general assembly in April.  

She explains why ESTA is so important to her and the industry. 

Iffet Türken is well-known in the heavy transport industry. She is also a busy woman. 

A board member for business development for trailer manufacturer Kässbohrer and a member of BSK, the German heavy transport and crane association, she is also vice president of TAID, Turkey's Heavy Commercial Vehicles Association, and is on the Supervisory Board of the Council of the trailer, body and bus section of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA),

What is more, she attends the Executive Masters Programs at the world-renowned INSEAD business school in France, focusing on change management. Read More

A European crane operator licence is needed more than ever to help the industry raise standards while dealing with rowing skills shortages and an ageing workforce.

That is the view of ESTA Secretary Ton Klijn, one of the driving forces behind the ambitious ECOL project.

He was speaking as ESTA – the European association for abnormal road transport and mobile cranes – submitted the project’s latest progress report to officials in Brussels.

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ESTA’s well-received best practice guide for the use of self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT) is being translated into six languages to meet demand from across Europe.

The new guide helps address the problem of trailers occasionally tipping over, even though existing operating rules and stability calculations have been precisely followed.

Translations into German and Polish have already been published and are available free of charge from ESTA’s website.  French, Danish and Spanish editions have been completed and work has started on an Italian edition.

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News that the European Parliament has agreed an extension to the timetable for introducing the new Stage V engine emissions regulations has been strongly welcomed by ESTA.

“It comes as a huge relief and show what can be achieved by concerted and effective action and lobbying,” said Søren Jansen, director of ESTA, the European association for abnormal road transport and mobile cranes.

“Many feared that the Commission’s original plans would have meant the industry cutting capacity by two-thirds while they adjusted to the new regulations.

 “This would have caused great uncertainty and upheaval in the crane market for rental companies and manufacturers alike.”

The European Commission has said that new regulations for engines in non-road mobile machinery will become mandatory on January 1, 2019.

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Engine emissions agreement averts job loss fears of mobile crane manufacturers

The European Parliament has agreed an extension to the timetable for introducing the new Stage V engine emissions regulations  – and averted fears of job losses.

The European Commission has said that the new regulations for engines in non-road mobile machinery will become mandatory on January 1, 2019.

 Under the Commission’s original proposals, all OEMs were given a 12 month transition period after the regulations had come into force to adapt their machines to Stage V engines, plus a 6 month “sell-off” period. 

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Industry representatives gather at 2016 meeting of the International Crane Stakeholder Assembly (ICSA) meeting in Munich, Germany.

The annual meeting of the ICSA took place at the Novotel Munchen Messe in Munich, Germany on April 13, 2016.

It was hosted jointly by the European Federation of Materials Handling (FEM) and the European Association of Abnormal Road Transport and Mobile Cranes (ESTA).

The meeting brought together 19 participants from 8 countries representing industry users and manufacturers from around the world.

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ESTA has published its much-anticipated best practice guide for the use of SPMTs.

The new guidelines will help address the problem of trailers tipping over, which has happened on some occasions even though then operating rules and stability calculations have been precisely followed.

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From January 2016 in Germany, it is compulsory for abnormal load transports to have their vehicles equipped with a gauge which measures axle pressure, if the vehicle has air- or hydro-pneumatic suspension. 


Download full report here

The FEM guideline "Working at Height" is now finally available through VDMAs webshop.

This guideline available in the languages English and German and gives an overview regarding the Safety Measures and Procedures related to work at height - Mobile cranes

The guideline is available through:

  VDMA Webshop

ESTA has changed its rules to allow individual companies to become official supporters and be directly involved in its work.

Download full report here

In an open letter, Søren Jansen, ESTA Director, sets out the organisation’s worries about the EU Commission’s “Directive 97/68/EC – Draft” on Stage V engine emissions, and planned to become mandatory by January 1, 2019. 

Download the full report here