A third Manitowoc MLC300 crawler crane with VPC-MAX and Wide Boom Plus further equips the crane and equipment rental company to compete for wind farm construction and maintenance jobs.

Kansas City, Kan.-based Wilkerson Crane Rental is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the purchase of another Manitowoc MLC300 lattice-boom crawler crane equipped with VPC-MAX.

Although the company has more than 40 years of experience in hoisting, lift planning, heavy hauling and equipment servicing, Wilkerson Crane Rental only officially came into existence in 2013. That year, Diana Holt put together a rescue package for the soon-to-be liquidated crane division at which her husband Jeff Holt had spent his entire working life as an operator and assembly director, and her father-in-law Fred Holt acted as general manager.

Company growth has been consistent with Diana at the helm as CEO, and Jeff as director of operations and the rest of their dedicated team. Wilkerson's cranes are as far afield as Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming. Work has further driven the company's acquisition of large Manitowoc cranes, due to a booming local economy, a new airport, data centers and a battery plant, coupled with the rise of wind farms and infrastructure projects.

"Four years ago, we bought our first MLC300 with a wide boom and extended upper boom point. This purchase was exclusively for wind farm work and apart from coming back for one three-month job, it's been conducting maintenance on one wind turbine after another," said Jeff Holt.

"Two years ago, we purchased our second MLC300 with a wide boom and extended upper boom point. This machine started out with wind work as well. Since then, it has done tilt-wall work, as well as infrastructure jobs — where it's really well suited. We can efficiently mobilize it and it's perfect for a variety of jobsites," Holt said. "It's currently on a long-term jobsite replacing a bridge over Table Rock Lake in Ridgedale, Missouri.

"Five months ago, we bought our third MLC300. This time we purchased the VPC-MAX and Wide Boom Plus. These two new attachments can be utilized on any of our three MLC300's. They make it possible to maintain up to 100-m hub height wind towers. Since the purchase of these attachments, we have used them to perform complete rotor drops on 100-m wind turbines for the past five months. Now, this crane is off to work on a large tire plant in Topeka, Kansas, with main boom and fixed jib," Holt added.

Wilkerson's latest 386 ton-capacity crawler, acquired from Kirby Smith, joined a portfolio that includes two other MLC300's, along with a fleet of Manitowoc crawlers consisting of the MLC90-A, 999, 16000, MLC650 with VPC-MAX. The MLC650 with VPC-MAX has already completed picks on two bridge projects, and has since been working exclusively on wind farm tasks.

Additional equipment from Manitowoc and Grove includes the Grove GMK6350, an RT765E-2, and four (soon to be six) National Crane boom trucks.

For more information, visit www.manitowoc.com.

This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.

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