Prior to the start of the World Crane & Transport Summit, SC&RA Executive Vice President Joel Dandrea and Vice President Beth O’Quinn participated in an international meeting with representatives from the Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA), the European Association of Abnormal Road Transport and Mobile Cranes (ESTA), the Federation Europeene de la Manutention (FEM), the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) and members of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP).

During this meeting, which primarily grew out of SC&RA’s ongoing concerns about EN 13000, the European crane design standard, attendees agreed to a proposal to establish the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly which would conduct future meetings annually. The group decided that the annual International Crane Users Meetings would meet jointly in sequence with the International Crane Technical Liaison Meetings, which began in 1997 as an assembly of manufacturers’ organizations. Participants at these meetings could then reconvene at the same venue for a combined meeting of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly. These meetings would be planned around larger events such as Bauma China, Bauma Germany or ConExpo USA.

As the new users group develops, SC&RA plans to continue its active role in discussions of key international, technical crane issues. Look for further details in future editions of this newsletter.