SaudiCranes, which is licensed by Finland-headquartered Konecranes, has said demand in Q1 2011 has substantially increased compared to the same period of last year.

It said 2010 was marked by a bit of slowdown in project start-ups and implementation but that Q1 2011 had turned out to be more bullish in the same areas.

SaudiCranes is currently fulfilling crane manufacturing orders for Hadeed, Aramco’s Jubail & Yanbu Export Refineries, Saudi Electric Company’s Qurayyah combined cycle power plant and other firms.

The company’s ongoing jobs include the manufacture of more than 100 cranes for various parties, it said.

SaudiCranes manufactures overhead cranes, gantry cranes, jib cranes and monorail hoists in Jubail and provides a range of services including maintenance, integrity testing, repair and modification and installation.

The production facilities include a 12,500 sq m covered shed area for structural fabrication and equipment assembly and testing. The shed houses state-of-the art equipment including machines for plasma-cutting and automatic welding and load test stands.

The latest gantry crane that SaudiCranes delivered to the Hadeed steel plant project.

Konecranes Company, the world’s largest maker of crane and hoist components, has licensed SaudiCranes to use its patented programmes for crane design engineering and production. The Jubail plant is certified to conform to standards of ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System.

The company sources its mechanical and electrical crane components from Konecranes. Major raw materials for steel structures including steel plates and sections are sourced from local steel traders.

Focus on the local market
'We have no conscious efforts to develop or expand our export sales, as there are more opportunities in the local market and we can hardly cope with them,' the Jubail firm said. Over the years the company has been a supplier to various expansions and new projects of major Sabic-affiliated firms, Saudi Aramco and other prime government and
private entities.

About innovations, SaudiCranes said: 'Our products have been technically enhanced with new special features and accessories that would provide bettter and safer performance.'

SaudiCranes says the market is generally booming with many new expansions and development projects being pursued by the government and the private sector.

'The local crane industry is very active and getting highly competitive with several aggressive new entrants,' it observed.

'The big challenge for us is how to cope with the opportunities on hand, considering the limited availability of skilled manpower suited to our industry.'