Donegal firm seals crane deal with US company

AN Irish firm hopes to crack the $900 million (€638m) US market for self-erecting cranes from its Donegal manufacturing base in Killygordon.

Mantis Cranes of Donegal, the only manufacturer of self-erecting cranes outside continental Europe, has formed a joint venture partnership with New York-based Celtic Cranes called Celtic Self Erecting Cranes. Mantis employs 29 people in Donegal and their distinctive cranes can be seen on building sites throughout Ireland and Britain.

The agreement was announced by Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin during the Enterprise Ireland trade visit to the east coast of the USA. The latest crane to be launched by Mantis, the TC-25, was designed and built at the company’s manufacturing facilities in Killygordon. Several other Mantis crane models have also been picked up by Celtic Cranes, that have been made available in the United States since summer 2007.

In expectation of significant growth projections for the North American market Mantis Cranes chief executive Seamus McMenamin said: “This is positive progress for our company and we are pleased to be doing business with Celtic Cranes in the United States.”

Celtic Cranes is owned by Smith Bros Concrete, an established, family-owned concrete contractor company that is also highly reputed and respected in the construction industry. Under Celtic Cranes, the company is now importing the first self-erecting crane models to enter the north American construction and building market, from Ireland.

Celtic Cranes will distribute Celtic self-erecting crane models in north America.

Smith Bros chief executive Van Smith said: “Having conducted some research into various crane manufacturers throughout Europe, we made the decision to do business with Mantis. We visited the company’s manufacturing facilities and liked what we saw. We felt it was an innovative organisation, focusing on the customer with an outstanding product linkup. We are looking forward to a long and prosperous working relationship with Mantis.”

Mr Martin said: “Under the deal cranes researched and manufactured in Donegal will be available for sale or rent in the United States for the first time. Cranes will sell for $150,000 each, and with a ready market for about 6,000 self-erecting cranes the potential is enormous.”