A new Dubai storage facility is expected to cut waiting time for overhead cranes by up to 75 per cent as demand for construction equipment in the Middle East and North Africa reaches fresh highs.
Dubai Cranes and Technical Services, a subsidiary of Dubai Investments, has opened the crane storage and assembly facility amid a construction boom in the region.
In the UAE alone, more than U$15 billion worth of construction jobs were awarded in the first half of the year, marking a six year high, according to Meed Projects.
The renewed construction activity has resulted in long waiting lists for new cranes.
“If you order a German or Japanese brand you can wait anything up to six months,” said Rasool Eskani, the managing director of Santos Cranes and Heavy Equipments. “You will have to add 5 per cent, maybe more, to your costs if you import them. It is a booming industry at the moment [and] we have no cranes in stock. The world wants cranes right now so if you import them you have to join a queue with the planet – that is why this new facility sounds like a good idea.”
The facility is based in Dubai Investment Park and stocks more than 50 standard cranes. All hoists, controls, end carriages and electrical equipment offered at Dubai Cranes’ new facility are built and supplied by the UK-based Street Cranes.
Andrew Kay, the general manager of Dubai Cranes, said the facility would “revolutionise” the regional crane industry.
“With our new storage facility, we have cut the average turnaround time for cranes from 16 weeks to four weeks, which will have significant implications on the overall costs as well as the project schedules,” he said.
ascott@thenational.ae
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