D&G was established by joint owners David Keating and Gino DeCesare in 1998 and has grown rapidly on a model of providing late model, well maintained tower cranes and hoists, with all except one of D&G’s fleet of 82 tower cranes being of the Potain brand and the average age being three years.This is in contrast to the generally aging fleet of tower cranes on the east coast, although Verticon was part way through a program to modernise and standardise its fleet at the time the acquisition was announced.The new business will continue the Verticon distributorship for Baoda passenger and material hoists, with D&G noting the quality of the Baoda brand made it a good match for the national business, and its distributorship would help expand the hoist business nationally.D&G also operates in Adelaide, Darwin and Singapore through partnerships with local companies.The combined D&G/Verticon business will include 160 tower cranes, 140 passenger and material hoists, 17 mobile cranes and 70 Preston loading platforms, and will have 280 employees, making it easily the largest company in its market in Australia and one of the largest in the Asia Pacific region. The new owners have set a target of having an all-Potain tower crane fleet within five years, and are looking to replace the 28 Favco and Favelle diesel hydraulic luffing tower cranes in the acquired fleet with Potain luffing electric tower cranes, citing the high cost of preparing the older cranes for each project and maintaining compliance with Australian Standards.The mobile crane fleet is operated in Perth by subsidiary Northern Suburbs Crane Hire, and there is no immediate intention to extend this business to the East Coast. A recently acquired 160t Demag AC160/2 may be relocated to Brisbane to help erect tower cranes there, but generally this work will be contracted to local crane hirers. Some Frannas and telescopic handlers form part of the D&G Verticon fleet, and consideration is being given to replacing the older Frannas (these machines work in the depots and are not offered for general hire).The combined business will be administered from Perth, with current D&G operations director David Keating, administration director Gino DeCesare and general manager and chief financial officer Albert Stazzonelli taking on these roles nationally.The acquisition is expected to accelerate the renewal of the tower crane fleet on the east coast, with the age of the fleet being a long-recognised problem that has persisted for decades. The D&G Verticon renewal program is expected to see electric cranes gain ascendency in the luffing tower crane market where diesel hydraulic machines have traditionally commanded the bulk of the market. The assembly of a truly national tower crane hire fleet allows cranes to be relocated to markets with the highest activity, while still providing hirers with the support of a local depot.
