Hiab invites world’s best crane drivers to compete in the World Crane Championships 2016

Malmö, Sweden, 29-Mar-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — Hiab, part of Cargotec, invites the world’s best crane drivers to compete in the World Crane Championships 2016. The competition has now started and the first qualification round took place on 16 March in Madrid, Spain where Carles Amils Xampro, representing Arenes I Graves Castellot S.A., won the Spanish qualifications. Further qualification rounds will continue in the participating countries around the world until the WCC finals at the IAA exhibition in Hanover, Germany in September 2016.

The best driver at the WCC finals will win a prize worth EUR 25,000.

Sebastian Poccard, Senior Vice President, Sales and Markets at Hiab, says: “I am very excited about this competition, which Hiab initiated last year to celebrate our 70th anniversary. As the industry pioneer it is in our nature to set standards and create the most positive customer experience in the industry. The World Crane Championships is a great example of our innovative approach to inspire our customers and crane operators in a new exciting and fun way.”

The first-ever World Crane Championship Hiab organised in April 2015 started a new tradition in the industry, giving crane operators from around the world the chance to showcase their skills and measure their abilities against their peers.

At the 2015 WCC finals in Birmingham, UK, Johnny Jensen from Denmark had the skills needed. He won the competition at the impressive time of 2:18:49 and took the grand prize of 25,000 EUR and the honour of being the first World Champion in crane driving.

The 17 participating countries this year are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Russia, and New Zeeland. Information about the dates and how to register for the qualification rounds in each country is available at www.hiab.com/en/global/wcc2016. The German qualifications will take place on 15-16 April at the Bauma exhibition in Munich.

The competition involves performing difficult manoeuvers with a truck crane in the quickest possible time. The crane is a state-of-the-art mid-range HIAB HiPro crane mounted on a Hiab branded truck that will be touring through most of the qualification rounds in Europe. The winner of each country’s qualification will proceed directly to the finals at the IAA in September. The names of the winners will be announced on Hiab’s website.

“The countdown has started for the big World Crane Championship 2016. All crane drivers around the world are welcome to take part and compete!” concludes Sebastian Poccard.

For further information, please contact:
Jennie Rosengren, Marketing Manager Promotion and Events, Hiab
Tel: +46 706 552 766, e-mail: jennie.rosengren@hiab.com

Lotta Clausen, Vice President, Communications, Hiab
Tel: +46 705 535 138, e-mail: lotta.clausen@hiab.com

Hiab is the world’s leading provider of on-road load handling equipment. Customer satisfaction is the first priority for us. Around 2,800 professionals at Hiab work to provide high-performance products and services that meet customer needs globally. Our product range includes HIAB loader cranes, JONSERED recycling and forestry cranes, LOGLIFT forestry cranes, MOFFETT truck-mounted forklifts and MULTILIFT demountables, as well as DEL, WALTCO and ZEPRO tail lifts. www.hiab.com

Hiab is part of Cargotec. Cargotec’s (Nasdaq Helsinki: CGCBV) sales in 2015 totalled approximately EUR 3.7 billion and it employs almost 11,000 people. www.cargotec.com