January 22 - The ultra heavy lift crane fleet AL.SK has been given a new name as part of a global rebrand for Abnormal Load Engineering, as the company, now called ALE, announced that it had been awarded a multi-million dollar contract involving the impen

The AL.SK90 and the AL.SK 120 will now be called the AL.SK190 and the AL.SK350, reflecting the measurement of the load moment based around the point of rotation, which ALE says is the industry standard convention for measuring the lifting radius of cranes. 

When the forthcoming AL.SK350 is revealed, ALE says its lifting capacity will be more than double the load moment of its closest rival. 

"The new designations make it clear there is no bigger crane than the AL.SK350 for lifting the world's heaviest structures - no other crane even comes close," Mark Harries, ALE executive director told guests at the company's brand launch in London this week. 

The AL.SK 190 and AL.SK350 are equipped with a standard winch system for weights of up to 600 tonnes and a strand jack system for loads of up to 5,000 tonnes. 

Commenting on the new brand, Harries said it marked an, "exciting turning point in ALE's 26-year history." 
Harries added that ALE had won its biggest ever contract as part of a five year project to build two new Royal Navy super carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. ALE will be working with a consortium selected by the Ministry of Defence's contractor for the project. 

He also announced that ALE had invested EUR11m (USD15.5m) into a new crane, the Terex Demag CC8800, and said that weighing and ballasting specialists John Gibson Projects, aquired by the company in 2007, would now be integrated into the new global brand. 

Read a profile of Mark Harries and more ALE news in the March / April issue of HLPFI.