Mining and resources are set to be the engine room driving WA’s recovery from COVID-19 and leading industry suppliers are gearing up.
As activity booms across the State, cranes are dotting the skies from the Goldfields to the Pilbara. Today the name on many of those cranes is Cranecorp Australia – tomorrow even more will sport the familiar black, red and yellow logo.
After moving into new premises in Henderson, Cranecorp is gearing up for growth. Its confidence comes on the back of strong and consistent earnings from the resources sector, largely uninterrupted by the COVID pandemic, and a multi-million dollar capital injection from industrials investment specialist Viburnum Funds.
The investment buy-in cements Cranecorp’s position as one of the biggest craneage operators in Australia and recognises the company’s track-record for providing sophisticated technical solutions, an extensive modern fleet and a skilled and experienced operations team.
Henderson is now Cranecorp’s official headquarters. The new facility features impressive corporate offices and a 1,500 sqm depot housing the company’s south-west fleet. The location ensures quick and easy deployment of equipment to support industrial clients on the Kwinana strip, the Australian Marine Park, Garden Island and for cargo loading and offloading at Fremantle Port.
Founded in 1994, as Goldfield’s Crane Hire, Cranecorp has grown from a one-man, one-crane operation into one of the State’s biggest crane companies with a team of more than 170 staff and over 140 fleet assets stationed across WA. Specialising in complex shutdown and maintenance lifts, the company provides wet hire, dry hire and specialist labour hire services for clients in mining, oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, utilities and renewables.
Strategic acquisitions have helped fuel Cranecorp’s consistent growth over the past 25 years. The company took on MRM Crane Hire in 2014, assets from Port Hedland based Gravity Cranes in 2017 and Canning Vale based Force Cranes, in 2018.
“The market for specialist expertise in advanced lifting solutions, particularly for maintenance and shutdowns is growing strongly in Australia as resource owners move to increase production capacity and refurbish aging assets,” said CEO Rod White.
“We also service other sectors which are experiencing strong growth, such telecommunications, utilities and renewables, industrial and public infrastructure projects funded by State and Federal governments.”
Cranecorp’s 70-strong crane fleet is deployed right across WA and is concentrated in the mining hubs of the Pilbara, Midwest and Goldfields. Company depots in Henderson, Kalgoorlie, Leonora, Leinster, Geraldton, Tom Price and Wickham, provide cranes of all sizes (Pick and Carry, All Terrain and Rough Terrain) with a single lift capacity ranging from 15 tonnes to 400 tonnes. These are deployed to work sites as needed, along with a team of professional operators and riggers.
Cranecorp provides crane services to all major resources players, such as BHP, Rio Tinto, AngloGold Ashanti, Glencore and Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, at a time when iron ore prices are fast rebounding, nickel is strong and gold prices are reaching record highs.
Australia’s major resources and energy commodity exports are expected to continue growing strongly and Cranecorp is well positioned to support customers’ increased maintenance requirements as they expand production.
