CICA PRESIDENT’S REPORT
DIFFERENT CHALLENGES FOR 2022 The new year brings uncertainty around new strains of COVID, but there are additional challenges, with crane manufacturers expressing difficulty in attaining some essential parts to re-build machines. There is added pressure on margins, particularly for machines quoted and ordered many months or, in some cases, a year or more ago. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AND WELCOME to the first issue of Cranes and Lifting magazine for 2022 and what an issue it is. The showcase edition is the perfect way to start the year where we get to ‘show and tell’ our hardworking fleet. Small and big – our cranes play an integral role in getting the job done on most of the construction, infrastructure, and mining projects across Australia. This issue of the magazine is distributed widely and used as a reference for many businesses requiring cranes. I am looking forward to this year. 2021 was just as challenging as 2020, with lockdowns, vaccine mandates, a tight labour market, and other state-specific issues creating stress and requiring grit and agility to tackle the problems. That was tiring, so I hope you’ve managed to take some time off over Christmas to recharge and spend time enjoying the company of family and friends. For 2022, time will tell whether new virus strains will cause a repeat of lockdowns and restrictions. I’m sure you have all noticed now how much more cautious all precincts are to maintaining unrestricted travel, so I feel we need to expect the coming year to have a varied approach as new challenges emerge. Probably more notable for our businesses now is the impact on machinery supply and the cost to procure parts. When speaking with manufacturers, they express difficulty in attaining some essential parts to build full machines. 14 / CAL January 2022
Added to this, once built, the exponential increase in shipping costs have created unforeseen pressure on margins, particularly for machines quoted and ordered many months, or perhaps a year or more ago. LET’S GET TOGETHER This year will provide greater networking opportunities with informative branch meetings and the Industry Days in Victoria, NSW and WA still to happen. You can read about the South Australian and Queensland Industry Days in this issue. They were well run and highly beneficial for those who attended, and for the industry more broadly. The SA and QLD branches, together with Sue and her team from Wise Connections, worked hard and can be very proud of what they achieved. I also want to recognise the work that Anthony and Connie Grosser, and the WA team, put into the CICA WA Family Day in late 2021. This event recognises the role of our families and other support people in the lives of our members. From all accounts, it was well attended and enjoyed by all. Planning for the 2022 CICA Conference is underway. We know that, all things being equal, it will be held in Adelaide a little later this year in November, in order not conflict with other events like bauma. Be sure to stay connected through the
CICA president Tom Smith.
year at your state CICA branch meetings. This is a great way to keep informed with local issues. Your input and participation is always greatly appreciated. 2022 – A YEAR OF REBUILDING CICA held its AGM in November, which enabled the board to announce all directors up for nomination had been returned for a further two-year term. The president and vice president were also re-elected for a further term, enabling CICA to enter 2022 with an unchanged board structure and allowing continuity for Brandon and his team for the coming year. With lockdowns hopefully a thing of the past, our industry plays an important part in revitalising each state’s economy through the delivery of major projects. To achieve this, CICA continues its focus on a number of key areas: • Capacity-building programs such as The CrewSafe verification of competency (VOC), which verifies operators are competently skilled, along with video evidence that can be viewed at any time to confirm such competence. Watch out for CrewSafe in 2022 – this platform is growing www.cranesandlifting.com.au
