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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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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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. 


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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.

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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