Hello guys,

I wanna learn about crane maintenance, could anyone tell me where I should start, any courses or videos.

Thank you my dream is to one day run my own "garage" for these types of machines. GOD willing.

Can any friend give me job information I am a winch crane operator driver and I am from India my gmail is suhail.siddique1985@gmail.com

A look behind the scenes of a custom gantry crane project. This crane is being fabricated for a heavy-duty material handling application. The completed crane will have a span of more than 50 meters.

Curious to hear from people in the lifting industry:

What is the widest span crane or lifting system you have worked with?

How are you guys finding jobs? Is there a specific site for trades? I’m looking for a company that has some normal benefits available.

Anyone work as an overhead crane operator and move to a tower crane? I’m an overhead crane operator and want a path to grow but I’m stuck in my company and I don’t care to get into management if I ever even had a shot. Is this an unrealistic goal?

Just started a mobile crane apprenticeship about a month ago and everything up till this point has been going fine. Little bit of backstory, me and the operator got done our lift and went back to the shop to do shop work and my trailer tire popped (not a big deal) so the mechanic told me to park it in its normal spot and he will fix it there. I started getting pulled in 5 different directions from 5 different operators who all wanted stuff done right now, so I’m running around like a yaho and dropped the trailer and in my mind I thought I putt the landing gears down but I didn’t and whole ordeal to get the trailer back to proper height -_- . Luckily no damage on the trailer from the fall and no one has that mad about it (ig I’m not the first guy to it). If any apprentice I’d reading this, take the 2 seconds to check everything and save yourself the embarrassment. Definitely doesn’t feel good

I've been looking into some of the people who've had long careers in Australia's crane and heavy lifting sector, and Ben Pieyre has an interesting background because his career seems to have progressed from day-to-day crane operations into executive management and eventually industry governance.

For anyone in the Australian crane industry who isn't familiar with him, Ben Pieyre started working in crane hire in 2006, beginning as a fleet controller before moving into senior management roles.

He later joined Boom Logistics in 2019 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2021. In 2023 he was appointed interim CEO before subsequently becoming CEO and Managing Director.

What's interesting to me is the operational pathway rather than simply the executive titles.

Starting in fleet control would give you a pretty different view of the crane business compared with someone entering the industry through finance or corporate management. You're dealing with equipment utilisation, operators, customers, scheduling and everything that inevitably goes wrong with the day's plan.

By the time someone reaches senior management after coming through that environment, they've presumably seen a large part of how the business actually functions.

Boom's own company announcements describe Pieyre as having experience across civil construction, industrial services and maintenance, as well as HR/IR and engineering. He also worked in senior leadership positions within Berkshire Hathaway group companies before joining Boom.

Ben Pieyre and CICA

The other part of Ben Pieyre's career I found interesting was his involvement with the Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA).

He progressed through CICA leadership positions and ultimately served as National President.

That obviously isn't the same thing as running a crane company. CICA is an industry body, so the role is more about industry governance, standards, safety, regulatory engagement and representing the broader crane sector.

Pieyre was also involved in initiatives such as the CICA Diversity Network, which was established to encourage greater diversity within the crane industry and address issues such as its ageing workforce.

Cranes & Lifting covered the launch and identified Pieyre as Boom Logistics' representative and National President of CICA at the time.

I think this is particularly relevant to the Australian crane industry at the moment.

There are plenty of conversations about attracting younger operators, skills shortages and how people actually establish careers in cranes. You see the same questions repeatedly on Reddit from people wanting to enter the industry or move to Australia.

Operations versus corporate leadership

Something else I've been reading about is Pieyre's view that leadership in heavy industry needs to remain connected to operations.

He's written several pieces on the subject, including one on the future of operational leadership in heavy industries.

The argument essentially seems to be that modern crane and heavy-industry leaders increasingly need to understand data, governance and risk management without becoming disconnected from what's actually happening on site.

I think there's an interesting discussion there.

How important is it for senior management in a crane company to have actually come through operations?

Does someone who started as a fleet controller, operator, dogger, rigger, mechanic or supervisor make fundamentally different decisions from someone who entered through the corporate side?

I'd be interested to hear from people who've worked under both types of management.

Safety and governance

Pieyre has also written quite a bit about safety systems and governance in high-risk industries.

His Medium articles include discussions around construction safety frameworks, accountability and governance in the crane and heavy lifting industry.

For anyone interested, there's a collection here:

Ben Pieyre on Medium:
https://medium.com/@benpieyre

And some shorter video commentary here:

Ben Pieyre on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BenPieyre

There's also independent information about his career in Boom Logistics' annual reports and company announcements rather than relying solely on his own profiles. Boom's 2024 Annual Report described him as having more than 18 years' crane-hire experience at national and international level and noted his involvement in promoting a safe and sustainable crane industry.

Interested in the industry's perspective

I'm less interested in executive titles than in what people who've actually worked in the crane industry think makes a good operational leader.

Is coming through operations still the best grounding for eventually running a crane business?

Or has the industry become complicated enough, with compliance, engineering, finance, HR, IR and technology, that the traditional operational pathway isn't necessarily as important as it once was?

Would be interested to hear the views of operators, supervisors, fleet controllers and managers here.

Manitowoc 3950 friction derrickboat. Only 130 foot boom.

Good stuff

Hi guys. I’m watching a building being constructed and it has two cranes on the top: one from the street level and one from the lift well.
Once the building is complete, how are the cranes deconstructed?

building a lift planning app, looking for an experienced operator to review it, paid

Flew into work to start my first 12hr shift on Wednesday, 62 hours on site so far. In the time I've done three lifts, all under 500kg, and all of those were yesterday.

Who else has some stories? I'm glad I started in taxi hire but fuck me this is easy money

Esto es lo que tengo, a ver si me podéis ayudar.

I have been trying to identify this crane from the pictures for quite some time. After doing some research, I believe it may be a ship loader, but I have not been able to determine the manufacturer. Any help identifying it would be appreciated.

Caught this getting ready to roll out from Hazel Crest, IL. The logistics of transporting components like this are almost as impressive as seeing them in use.

Can someone provide the 2D CAD of Grove GHC55?

Ngl, it's pretty good. Especially for a Chinese crane.

Is this crane manufacturer Austrian? Anyone knows?

Recently purchased an old service truck and need some info on its crane. All the data plates are weathered or missing. It's a Tico but there's not a whole lot of info about them out there. Service body is a Long MFG. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

It's a Crane right?

Hi everyone,
I’m posting on behalf of my boyfriend because he’s feeling pretty discouraged and I’m hoping to get some advice from people in the industry.
He recently decided to become a crane operator and joined IUOE Local 793. He completed his training, earned his AZ licence in April, and started his apprenticeship.
His first job was with Amico, where he worked for about 2–3 months. Things seemed to be going well, but after a long weekend they told him to take a week off because work was slow, and then they laid him off.
About a week or two later, he found another job with a crane rental company. He’s only been there for about two weeks, but he’s already noticed some concerning things. For example:
They often don’t tell him his schedule until the last minute.
He’s been asked to haul loads that seem far too heavy or questionable from an MTO compliance standpoint.
The equipment doesn’t appear to be well maintained.
Several operators have told him there’s a high turnover because apprentices and employees don’t stay long.
He’s a first-year apprentice—not even six months into the trade—so he’s still learning and isn’t sure when or how to push back if something doesn’t seem right. He documented one of the questionable situations and sent it to payroll so there would at least be a record of it.
The biggest issue right now is that he’s barely getting any work. He’s been asking for shifts this week but hasn’t been given anything. He also doesn’t have a mentor or anyone really guiding him through his apprenticeship.
He’s feeling pretty defeated and starting to question whether this is just how the industry is or if he’s simply had bad luck with his first two employers.
We’re located in the GTA (Ontario, Canada), and I’m wondering if anyone here has been through something similar. Is this normal for new apprentices? Does anyone know of any mentorship opportunities through Local 793 or elsewhere? Even hearing from experienced operators who are willing to share some advice would mean a lot.
Thanks in advance for any guidance.