Let’s hope they are on the money because that sounds like lovely weather for N&B to wander around the Australian Construction Equipment Expo, say hello to fellow exhibitors, and check out their displays.It seems there have been a few whispers that ACE 2009 was struggling – so much so that event director Paul Mathers was moved last week to issue a statement quashing rumours of an exhibitor exodus.Mathers said with a full book of around 150 exhibitors and six on a waiting list, the rumours couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, he said, this year’s ACE would be 15% bigger than the 2007 show.Sure, William Adams and CJD have been two notable withdrawals. But compared to the mass departures from some overseas expos lately, ACE has avoided the financial crisis fallout remarkably well.There certainly will be no shortage of new equipment releases, as devoted fans of this column will know.Over the past few weeks we’ve previewed some notable launches, including Hyundai’s Dash 9 excavators, Komatsu’s MR-3 mini excavators and Toyota’s 5SDK skiddies. Aspac Group is another company that will be proudly showing off some new additions to the line up. The group distributes Hinowa elevating work platforms and will be showing off the new Lightlift 23.12. The 23.12 is a crawler-mounted “spider” EWP, similar to a mini crawler crane, with 23m height and 12m outreach. Aspac will also display Hinowa’s new HS400 tracked dumper with a self-loading attachment. ACE runs from February 26 to 28 at the Sandown Racecourse, Springvale, with doors opening at 9am and closing at 5pm. For more details visit www.aceexpo.com.au.
