2nd annual ACT50 lists North America's largest crane owning companies

Twice a year, we at American Cranes & Transport magazine go into the business of list making – compiling for the June issue our act50 list of North America's largest crane owning companies and for the December issue our acttransport50 list of North America's largest specialized transportation companies. It's a tough job, but the industry continues to ask for the lists so we're up to the task.

Developing a credible list of America's largest crane owning companies turns out to be a year-long effort, with most companies involved very cooperative and pleased to make the ranking. On the following pages are the results of our second annual act50, as well as the addition of the acttower50, our first effort at listing the largest tower crane suppliers in the US. We hope to build on this list and will attempt to survey these companies again in our December listing, hoping that it will be more comprehensive in six months.

Initially, we surveyed more than 120 companies throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, asking them for information about their crane fleets and capacities. While our list is much more comprehensive than last year, we still concede we're missing a few major players in the top 20 area of the list. In addition, note the asterisk by company names for which we didn't necessarily get updated information and relied on an estimate formula based on data we obtained last year or through other sources.

All companies in the list were contacted and given the opportunity to supply fleet information and other data. As the vast majority of crane-owning companies are privately held, it can be dificult to obtain and verify figures, although we do approach independent industry sources to assist when an estimation is required.

Suffice it to say, we will continue to pursue the companies we've missed in our listing with the goal of producing the most comprehensive list possible. We would like to see our list at the 100 mark in the coming years – the act100 has a good ring to it, don't you think? As was the case last year, after seeing the list we had, several new companies have come forward to participate and send in their data.

Companies are listed by their act50 Index, which is calculated by adding together the maximum lifting capacities in US tons of all crawler cranes and mobile cranes in a company's fleet.