NZ CRANE INDUSTRY UPDATE AT CICA 2019
21 October 2019
At the recent 2019 CICA Conference, Tony Gibson – President of CANZ, Non-Executive Director and previous Managing Director of Auckland Cranes’ – delivered an update on the future outlook on the crane industry in New Zealand.
He outlined a number of issues under review by the government pertaining to the crane industry including current rules and regulations regarding importation, and the ownership and use of heavy equipment. Tony mentioned that vocational education, training and qualifications were also currently under the political microscope.
He went on to say the Crane Association of New Zealand had been busy on behalf of their members preparing submissions to the various working groups on these issues.
Tony also discussed the implications to the industry if certain policies were to be passed i.e. the decriminalisation of the use of marijuana and how this would be managed in a safety sensitive business.
Tony detailed the previous government’s stimulation to the economy which created construction work, and in turn drove expats home and increased the number of cranes being exported to New Zealand.
Since then however, land prices have risen and banks have become more conservative in the crane sector. Tony predicted the decline in plant utilisation and therefore reduction in rates in an effort to keep cash flow coming in for business owners.
We were very proud of Tony at the CICA Conference, providing our Australian brothers and sisters an informative and interesting overview of the New Zealand crane industry.