Manitowoc presents new cranes and technologies at Colombia’s 14th National Congress of Infrastructure

• Visitors to the largest infrastructure congress in Colombia learned more about five new five-axle Grove cranes, which are well-suited for a wide range of jobs in Latin America.

• A team of Manitowoc experts also promoted the benefits of the company’s new MAXbase outrigger technology and the Variable Position Counterweight (VPC) feature.

Manitowoc had a successful appearance at the 14^th National Congress of Infrastructure, Colombia’s largest infrastructure congress, held at the end of last year in Cartagena. The company brought to the event a team of experts in sales and aftermarket sales to present new products, technologies and services for the Latin American market.

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During the three-day event, visitors to Manitowoc’s booth had the chance to learn more about five new five-axle Grove cranes: the GMK5150, GMK5150L, GMK5180-1, GMK5200-1 and GMK5250L. These innovative, all-terrain cranes are well-suited for a wide range of jobs in the region due to their industry-leading capabilities, such as powerful lifting capacity, improved maneuverability and fast highway speeds.

“Grove cranes are quite popular in Colombia and other countries across the region, especially for rental work, so the congress provided a great opportunity for us to talk with customers about these new models and their technologies, and the benefits that they bring to various projects,” said Fernando Camacho, regional business manager for Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. “We were glad to see that visitors have also shown great interest in learning more about rough- and all-terrain cranes, which are top sellers in Latin American countries.”

According to Camacho, the Manitowoc team at the congress has also promoted the benefits of the company’s new MAXbase outrigger technology and also the Variable Position Counterweight (VPC) technology, which adds flexibility to the MLC300 and MLC650 crane models.  

The MAXbase system provides greater set up flexibility at the job site, by allowing easier access to narrow sites thanks to asymmetrical outrigger positions. This makes jobsite planning much easier and allows for improved load capacities. The VPC allows the counterweight to be positioned to increase the load moment of the machine when required, based on lifted load and boom angle. The VPC-MAX expands the concept by extending the counterweight further and suspending it from the fixed mast, eliminating the need for resting the counterweight on the ground and subsequent ground preparation.

Visitors have also learned more about the work performed at Manitowoc’s Product Verification Centers (PVC). These centers run sophisticated component-level and full-vehicle tests to verify designs and durability early in product development processes, which leads to lower maintenance costs and increased uptime on the job site.

Organized by the Colombian Infrastructure Chamber (CCI), the 14^th National Congress of Infrastructure ran from November 22 – 24 and was attended by more than 3,000 people, including the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos; numerous national and local authorities; construction specialists and business people.