31.05.2010

New Zealand Army goes with Effer

New Zealand’s Army has purchased 10 Unimog mounted Effer 165 loader cranes from Crane Sales New Zealand.

The cranes are completely self contained with their own Yanmar power packs and have been supplied with custom-built palletised mountings. When not in use, the cranes sit centrally on the back of the truck for balanced weight distribution. When required for lifting, they lift up from their stored position and slide backwards on the pallet towards the rear of the vehicle in one continuous motion, before being clamped into position with three simple locks.

Each palletised crane is attached to the truck’s chassis with four simple twist lock mountings and equipped with four extendable legs so it can lift itself on and off the vehicles. Allowing them to be quickly transferred to any of the Army’s Unimog or Mercedes 8x4 trucks.
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One of the Effer 165 cranes on a Unimog lifting a cannon turret

The units weigh only 3,800kg – 100kg less than specified in the contract and carry enough fuel for 40 hours continuous operations. The cranes also come with pallet forks for general lifting duties and radio remote controls

Crane Sales has also supplied winches for six of the cranes and a training package to equip Army personnel to carry out repairs and maintenance.
The cranes and winches are required to service the Army’s light armoured vehicles (LAVs). The cranes are designed to remove the cannon turret section and engines for repair or replacement.

Cranes Sales director Stefan de Silva said: “Effer’s superior power-to-weight ratio allowed us to supply more powerful cranes to the Army than our competitors, while still meeting the Army’s maximum weight requirements.”

The Army’s capital acquisitions project manager, major Theo Alexopoulos, said: “This acquisition provides a vital capability to enable our soldiers to better support the New Zealand LAV in the field. Responsive equipment care is vital to the success of the commander's mission – the crane will allow key maintenance activities to be performed in the field faster and more safely.”

Crane Sales NZ worked with Transport Technology of Auckland to build the palletised mountings and power packs and supply engineer’s documentation.