IN FOCUS / KOBELCO CRAWLERS
KOBELCO CRAWLERS - TAKING ANOTHER LEAP FORWARD Over the past 18 months, both TRT and Kobelco have made significant investments in the Australian and New Zealand markets. Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, it appears this investment is beginning to pay dividends. FOLLOWING AN UPDATE EARLIER IN THE year with TRT Crane specialists Dean McIlroy, Cranes Sales for TRT in New Zealand, and Troy Hand (Cranes Sales Australia and the Pacific Islands, TRT confirms the progress it has been making with the Kobelco range of crawler cranes. McIlroy discusses the New Zealand market and how customers have been responding to the Kobelco brand. “As I’ve said previously, the Kobelco product has a really good name in New Zealand and over the last year or so, we’ve been receiving positive feedback from the market. That’s from both a sales and service perspective. “Kobelco is a great product and customers like the brand and a key reason for this is the reliability of the machines. Earlier in the year, we supplied Dave Carr Plant Hire Ltd and Fulton Hogan in New Zealand with telescopic crawlers, and both have been performing exceptionally well. Our customers have been impressed with the extra features and additions to the new models in the G Series which includes the foundation model - the TK750GFS. These extra safety features include the slew brake, hand-rails, extra galvanising and they’ve been impressed with the all-round performance of the crane,” he said. “We sold another model, a Kobelco CKE1100G lattice boom crawler, to Calder Stewart. They were so impressed 44 / CAL September 2021
with machine they’ve already ordered an identical model. Notably, the CKE models have a European emissions standard, that not only reduces CO2 emissions, but it also reduces fuel consumption by up to 10%. This new crane is leaving the factory in November and arrives in the first quarter, 2022. “There is a high level of interest in the Kobelco Crawlers as well. At the moment there are a number of significant projects under review in New Zealand. This year the focus of new projects has focused on fixing up the water industry, including reticulation, sewerage. There are a number of larger construction projects on hold, with this change of focus. So, I am sure we will see a lot more Kobelco crawlers out working as these projects come back online. “I can see the construction sector
ramping back up next year. This will be as a result of Government spending on various infrastructure projects, and this is a great opportunity for our customers and for Kobelco product,” said McIlroy. Despite the challenges of managing a global supply chain in a pandemic, Kobelco has remained responsive to the market’s needs in Australia and New Zealand with very open communication channels says McIlroy. “Kobelco is a great partner, and their team is a pleasure to deal with. The factory provides excellent technical support and deliveries are only four months ex-factory - and that’s fully painted. This means we can be responsive to demand. When you look at the equipment market generally, and the impact of the pandemic is having, people are having difficulty getting their hands on product. The manufacturing www.cranesandlifting.com.au
