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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more