06.11.2025

Another first for Allied

African crane rental company Allied Crane Hire has taken delivery of the first 700 tonne Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 All Terrain crane the first to arrive in Africa.

The eight axle crane features a basic four section 54 metre boom which converts to a six section 80 metre boom when required. A 90 metre luffing jib is also available. Other features include the VarioBallast variable counterweight system, Stage V diesels and Variobase variable outrigger set up and monitoring.

The new crane was pre-booked by a mining company to lift a 70 tonne heat exchanger into place, it handled the task with 125 tonnes of counterweight at a radius of 16 metres. It then went out on its first contract at a new semiconductor production plant.

Allied Crane Hire general manager André Engelbrecht said: “The company is proud of our latest milestone, the goal, however, is not necessarily to always be the first recipient of every new model. In most cases, these new models become available at exactly the moment we were looking for a crane that fits certain job requirements, which is an important criterion in every procurement decision.”

“To fulfil customer requirements in the mining, wind, petrochemical, and construction industries, we went into the market not only for a similar model to the LTM 1500-8.1, but also a crane that could give us more capacity in line with customer requirements. After some market research, the LTM 1650-8.1 came out as the perfect candidate.”

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Allied Crane Hire operates a fleet of around 80 All Terrain, Rough Terrain, truck, and lattice crawler cranes throughout sub-Saharan Africa from locations in Rustenburg, Kathu, Saldanha, Emahlaleni and Mogalakwena. It also runs a fleet of aerial work platforms and a heavy haulage fleet.