News

U.S. construction equipment exports for 2005 increased 35 percent over the previous year as $12 billion worth of American-made machinery was shipped to countries across the globe, according to data recently released by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). South America recorded the strongest gains (51 percent), while Central America experienced the smallest increase at […]

Dino Lift Oy announced company changes both in its home country of Finland with the appointment of a new managing director and abroad by naming the new sole distributor for the United States. Within the company, the executive board announced the former administrative director, Erkki Hokkinen, started his new position as managing director of Dino […]

Acting upon a recommendation of SC&RA's Crane & Rigging Governing Committee, the Association's Board of Directors has taken the position that calculators should be permitted during written examinations administered by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (CCO). According to the latest issue of the organization's newsletter, the committee reached its decision after […]

Veri-Tek International Corp., Wixom, Mich., a manufacturer of testing equipment for engines, axle assembly stations, and driveshaft assembly stations, announced it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire all of the operating assets of Manitex, Inc., Georgetown, Texas. In fiscal 2005, Manitex posted revenue of approximately $62 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately […]

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc., Vancouver, recently revealed its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2005. The company's net earnings for 2005 were $53.6 million, or $1.54 per diluted weighted average share, compared to $34.9 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, in 2004. Gross auction sales for the year ended December 31, 2005 were […]

Long discussion of the Laborers' International Union and the International Union of Operating Engineers leaving the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department has finally come to a head. Two of the largest basic trade unions in the United States have decided to leave the AFL-CIO and join several other construction trade unions to form the […]

CMLabs Simulations Inc., a leading supplier of real-time physics-based simulation software and services based in Montreal, recently unveiled the new Vortex Training Simulator product line in collaboration with the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO). The first products in the series, Vortex Mobile Crane and Vortex Tower Crane, are now available. Since the launch, […]

According to research released at The Rental Show in Orlando, Fla., by the American Rental Association (ARA), 2006 is expected to bring continued growth for the equipment rental industry. The ARA “2005 State of the Equipment Rental Industry” report states that the total U.S. rental market across the construction and industrial equipment, general tool, and […]

Lifting Gear Hire Corp. is tripling the size of its Houston warehouse, turning the space into a fully functioning rental and sales facility. The expanded building is planned to be 35,000 square feet in size with a 20,000-square-foot yard. A 350-ton horizontal pull test bed will be housed at the site, allowing for the testing […]

The new ANSI/SIA A92.5-2006 standard for Boom Supported Elevating Work Platforms will be published February 28, 2006 and the effective date for compliance is August 28, 2006. While many changes to the standard were made to bring the language in line with verbiage used in ANSI 92.6-1999 Self-Propelled Elevating Work Platforms, it is important to […]