Poland’s OSPTN hosted ESTA autumn meetings

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, … Read more

ECOL trainers, candidates wanted

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, … Read more

Victory in Spanish permits dispute

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 … Read more

ESTA Director Søren Jansen stepped down

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 … Read more

ESTA’s ECOL plans pass important milestones

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 … Read more

ESTA’s dual action on wind turbine safety

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 … Read more

Safe use of mobile cranes on floating barges

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 … Read more

Safety discussions to follow Hamburg conference success

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 … Read more

EU Commission filed official complaint against Spain

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 … Read more

Interview with Iffet Türken, Vice President Transport

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 … Read more