Strong turnout for 2014 WCTS

More than 260 people attended the fourth World Crane and Transport Summit (WCTS) in Florida, USA, on 12 and 13 November.

Alan Barnhart, Barnhart Crane & Rigging chief executive officer, opened the WCTS in Miami with a keynote speech. Barnhart said the crane and transport industry should celebrate its record of innovation and profit generation, and recognise the importance and rewards of work.

"Work is not something you do to afford to do the good stuff in life. Work is part of the good stuff", Barnhart told the audience at the Biltmore Hotel. "We should celebrate the innovation, the pofits, and the value they create - I think we should celebrate work."

The two-day WCTS is organised by KHL Group and its magazines International Cranes and Specialized Transport and American Cranes & Transport.

Following Barnhart's address, Jim Wiethorn of Haag Engineering outlined the results of an analysis of more than 500 crane accidents in North America. One finding was that 51 out of 147 fatalities were of persons not directly involved in the crane operation. Wiethorn said this illustrated the important role that site supervisors had in managing lifting operations.

Also speaking on day one was Brent Wise, a captain in the Dallas Fire and Rescue Department and co-founder of Tech Safety Lines. TSL supplies training and equipment for fall protection and rescue from height.

Day two started with a spectacular project report detailing Fagioli's involvement in the recovery of the cruise ship Costa Concordia from rocks off the coast of Italy.

An interesting joint presentation by Rüdiger Zollondz from Terex Cranes and Rainer Sasse from TII Group (Nicolas, Scheuerle, Kamag) clearly demonstrated the influence of developments in the oil and gas sector on the design of both lifting and specialized transport equipment.

For a full review of the 2014 event see the December issue of International Cranes and Specialized Transport.

The next World Crane and Transport Summit will be on 4 and 5 November 2015, returning to the Krasnapolsky hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Keep up to date with developments with the event at www.khl.com/wcts and in IC magazine.