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Malina Truck Cranes - a reliable company with huge plans for the future.

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Mr. Malina, could you please tell our readers something about the development of your company from its beginnings up to these days?

The company was established in 1995 when our business partner and me leased the first truck-mounted crane and we started to set up our business with it. One year later we separated and I remained the only managing director of the company. The business went well and within 3 years, I purchased other truck-mounted cranes with the lifting capacities of 20 tons and 28 tons. They were second-hand machines and they were leased or rented and I used them for huge investment projects such as desulphurization of coke-oven batteries or building a small metallurgical plant for the former Nová Huť Ostrava. We learnt a lot from these projects and we became well-known among the public. We had enough job orders and if we had had a crane with a higher lifting capacity, there would have been much more work for us. Therefore in 1999, we began to think of purchasing bigger and much more demanding machine. Of course, I was quite worried about whether I could afford such a machine. Then I got in touch with a representative of LIEBHERR and I checked possibilities. Finally, I got an exclusive offer from this company that I could borrow an older machine before general overhaul from Austria for 5 months and the conditions were very favourable. It turned out that the machine would earn enough for its operation, so three months later I set out to Berlin for another machine which was 10 years old and which had already underwent general overhaul. As early as the next year, truck-mounted cranes with the lifting capacities of 70 and 90 tons were added. In 2002, a crisis occurred. I was, therefore, forced to return one of the huge cranes, but it is business, you know. We survived these not very easy days and since 2004 we have been steadily rising as to both our revenue and machine purchasing, but this time the machines are new. Gradually we went over to DEMAG company, mainly due to service which we have in Frýdek-Místek, which is substantially nearer than LIEBHERR in Přerov or Mělník. Personally, it was very important to me that DEMAG offered the City-range, which included short, low, one-cab machines with a down jib and which can be perfectly used in cities, towns and halls and which are very efficient as well. A lot of people did not trust them that time. However, I liked them and I purchased a new Demag AC40-1 city nd one year later a new Demag AC120-1. These machines, however, did not manage to cover the demand. Therefore, we added Demag AC 55 City and, this March, Demag AC 250-1 which is the flagship of our company, to our machinery.

How many machines do you have at your disposal and what can you propose to your clients?

Nowadays we have 10 truck-mounted cranes and we cover the lifting capacities of 20-250 tons. We start with the lowest range of 20 tons, to be specific, with the machines ČKD AD 20T and ČKD AD 28. Then we have the range DEMAG AC 35L with the system length of boom 37 m, which is very compact, two-axle, efficient and fast crane. Further we offer Demag AC40-1 city and Demag AC 55 City. From LIEBHERR we have Liebherr LTM 1070/1 and Liebherr LTM 1090/2. In the heaviest class we offer Demag AC120/1 a Demag AC 250/1. The latter mentioned machine can be offered not only for the lifting capacity of 250 tons, but also in various lowered sets, e.g. for the lifting capacities of 200, 180 or 160 tons, which is related to a substantial reduction in the rent price.

You have already mentioned DEMAG AC 35 L. Could you please describe more specifically some of your other truck-mounted cranes as well?

Demag AC 55 City is really worth describing.It is the only one machine of this type in the Czech Republic. It is a compact machine with three axles, 9.20 m long, 3.40 m high. The system length of the jib is 40 m and it offers the possibility of using a state-of-the-art boom, the so-called “cantilever”. It is a hugely variable machine, which can be perfectly used in housing developments and wherever there is not enough space for work. At the moment, the machine is not being produced in DEMAG, so it is a lot more valuable. I cannot omit our most efficient machine Demag AC 250, with the basic system length of the boom 80 m. It is suitable for assembling of tower cranes or for transporting of huge loads at long distances, for which some older cranes must use a folding cantilever or VIPA. Professionals know very well that the VIPA is usually assembled whole day. On the contrary, we are able to prepare the crane for work within 1.5 hours after our arrival at the site, including building of its counterweight. It is evident that owing to our speed we are much cheaper than our competitors. The crane, however, occupies relatively small space and its telescope is 80 meters long. Using the cantilever we are able to lift the load up to the height of 100 m. The cantilever is hydraulically folding and it can be controlled from the crane cab. It incorporates HATZ engine so there is no cabling along its jib. It starts only by means of electricity and it can be folded from 0 to 40 degrees. This truck-mounted crane is highly employed as it is the only one in the Czech Republic.

Where does your company operate?

At this moment, the Moravian and Silesian Region, mainly Ostrava and its surroundings. Once we had a branch in Prague and in Hradec Králové as well. The boom in the Ostrava Region was, however, so big that we needed all our machines to cope with it. From time to time, we go to the other regions of the Czech Republic, to Slovakia as well as to Poland, but most our work is located in north Moravia.

According to the purchase of your new machines it seems that you are doing well....

The turnovers of our company used to increase regularly as the result of the growth of the Czech economy. This year we have been experiencing a fall in our revenues and we cannot avoid a certain decrease, but it is the same with all similar companies in our field of business. Crises come and go, so we will cope with this one as well. We are trying to struggle for every client and new job orders more and more. We are convinced that we can offer a lot. We have new and modern machines, which are very little faulty and which can guarantee that our clients will not suffer from any standstills or damages. All the truck-mounted cranes are equipped with slings and other accessories, such as expansion rods, operation and assembling baskets, support boards etc. Operation staff are very professional, they know their job and they can offer the best and the cheapest solutions to their problems. We are able to resolve all unexpected events which can occur while these machines are used promptly. We also use supporting software, into which one can draw individual building projects, including the crane used, in order to be 100% sure that the crane will suit to the site and that it can work there efficiently.

Which interesting building project have you taken part yet and what are you preparing now?

We are very interested in road constructions, mainly the D47 motorway where we have already done a good job. We took part in the construction of 360m-long motorway bridge in the so-called northern connection which runs past the Plzeňská-Opavská crossroads. Since handling the loads in this motorway part was very complex, the assembling of this bridge lasted almost three quarters of the year. Nowadays, however, one can see our machinery at the building site of another bridge, in the connection of Slovenská and Místecká streets. We have interesting jobs in heavy-duty halls, in which mainly the cranes Demag AC40-1 city and Demag AC 55 City can place heavy components in the spaces where special hydraulic pillar cranes would have to be used. We worked for BRANO Hradec nad Moravicí, Hyundai Nošovice as well as for a lot of other companies in the industrial zone in Ostrava-Hrabová. One of the interesting jobs was construction of a hydrogen station for BC MCHZ, where it was necessary to carry out dismantling of individual components in Hradec Králové, loading of these heavy components onto heavy-duty trucks and to assemble and put them together. Mainly the dismantling in Hradec Králové was very difficult as to logistics because the hall was small, the equipment very large and therefore it was necessary to think up a lot of special slings in order to get everything out of the hall. Recently we loaded 84-ton ships, 35 m long and 7.5 m wide, in gravel plants in Dolní Benešov. Then they were transported to Bohumín where they were transloaded from heavy-duty trucks to the lake. In Bratislava, we loaded tanks on water in the local brewery which was to close, and these tanks were transported to the brewery Vyhne. As an example we can add that the tanks were 22 m high and their diameter was 5.5 m. Construction of a footbridge in Hranice na Moravě near Kaufland supermarket was a very interesting job for us. There we had to use our biggest machine Demag AC 250, because it was necessary to place individual components of the footbridge over a four-lane road as well as to its side branches. And what are we preparing nowadays? We are taking part in bridge demolition in Bohumín and we are carrying out another demolition in Jablunkov.

What are your plans for the future?

First of all, we want to focus on further improvement in our work in order to be able to provide our clients with the most comprehensive services. For this purpose we want to replace and renew our machinery as well as, prospectively, we want to purchase even bigger truck-mounted crane than Demag AC 250 and we would like to start with crawler-type cranes. We would love to purchase our own heavy means of transport which we do not have for the time being and we have to outsource it. Then we would be able to transport out counterweights by ourselves along roads and to provide our clients with services related to the heavy transportation. Construction of the business residence (registered office) is in front of us. For this time being we are in rented offices, but for this purpose we have already bought a plot in Šenovská street, where we would like to build our residence, including garages and all technical background. If everything goes well, we will move within two years.

At the end of our interview, would you like to tell something to your partners?

Above all, I would like to thank all our current clients and to tell the future ones to feel free to contact us. We will try to satisfy their requirements as much as possible and to adapt to their needs and requirements. Delivery periods are not a problem for us. If we have a free machine, we set out almost immediately, even at night or at weekends :-).