01.01.2018

Happy New Year

As 2017 comes to an end, with the celebrations already winding down in Asia and the Pacific, many of us will breathe a sigh of relief, and hope that 2018 will be a little calmer and less crazy.

While 2017 saw another year of mindless terrorist violence – especially in the Middle East – people in other parts of the world suffered from cataclysmic natural disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes and fires. At the same time some of our leading politicians displayed an ineptitude and immaturity that would look out of place in a kindergarten playground...

But there were plenty of brighter things to offset the gloom, such as the improving global economy, and the expulsion of Daesh/Isil from almost all of the territory that it once held, liberating the inhabitants from unspeakable cruelty. National leaders with divisive agendas proved to have bites that were far weaker than their barks, and many people in positions of power who had abused their authority were finally being brought to book. Hopefully these are all reasons to be cheerful.

In the lifting industry, companies have generally had a better year, including many manufacturers that suffered in 2017. On the rental company front an ongoing spate of acquisitions created a number of new millionaires, while the resulting ‘consolidation’ provided opportunities for up and coming players.
If you need a few reminders of both the good and the not so good things that happened in our industry over the past 12 months – including a reminder of those that departed – we will publish our ‘Look Back at 2017’ feature in the January issue of Cranes & Access, which will also be available online.

As far as Vertikal.Net is concerned, our readership continued to grow and during the year we posted 1,466 individual news reports on the English site – an average of 5.6 a day – along with a similar number on our German language service – while posting 3,912 photographs.

If some of the more extreme national leaders are kept under control, 2018 promises to be a very good year for the crane and access market. The big international construction equipment show will be Intermat in Paris, while Vertikal Days moves to a brand new site at Donington Park. Vertikal.net is also due for a major update and redesign during the year – so do let us have your ideas on what we can do to improve it.

On behalf of all of us here at the Vertikal Press, I would like thank you for your support in 2017 and to wish you a very happy, healthy, safe and prosperous year in 2018.
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The New Year fireworks display in Auckland, New Zealand