The South African market’s response to lifting group Konecranes’ CXT UNO wire rope hoist crane has been encouraging since its global launch in January, with Konecranes Southern Africa service, sales and marketing director John MacDonald attributing this to the combined reliability and affordability of the equipment.

Based on Konecranes’ CXT NEO, he explains that the economically priced CXT UNO indoor overhead crane was developed by downscaling some of the technical features of the original crane to offer small and medium-sized businesses in Southern Africa access to the company’s proven technology.

The Konecranes CXT range of wire rope hoist cranes can be implemented in nearly any industrial setting where a lifting capacity of up to 80 t is needed and is available in every form, from basic standard cranes to technologically advanced versions. The crane can, for example, be used to assist in moving heavy mining equipment, such as pumps in warehouses.

The CXT UNO has a 12.5 t lifting capacity, a lifting height of up to 9 m and a span of up to 24 m. The easy-to-use equipment is a robust and reliable lifting tool that is designed to include only the most essential features for everyday lifting, such as profile and box girders with optimised structures for minimum weight and wheel loads, the original CXT hoist and energy chain and inverter control.

The crane is, however, still designed to deliver the most effective performance, with a large drum diameter on the pulley system that results in less wear on the rope and improves hook approaches. Thermal-protected motors also prevent overheating and mechanical overload protection provides a safe working environment. An improved steel profile and box girders, moreover, reduce the stress on the ceiling of the building on which the indoor crane is mounted.

The CXT UNO is flexible in design and can be tailor-made for a desired application, with various options available to customise and improve lifts and hoist travelling. The simplified design, with fewer components, also needs less maintenance, although Konecranes, based in Johannesburg, guarantees a speedy delivery of spare parts across South Africa.

“With the supply of this new equipment, together with service contract obligations and refurbishment projects, our activity in the mining sector remains strong,” says MacDonald.

The Konecranes group also finalised its worldwide acquisition of Demang Cranes supplier Terex Material Handling & Port Solutions in January, improving Konecranes’ position as a focused global leader in the industrial lifting and port solutions market.

In a first joint team effort, the Terex/Konecranes team signed a three-year service and maintenance contract for steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa’s Saldanha steel mill, in the Western Cape, last month, which will require a supervisor and four technical teams on site.