Two Grove GMK6300L all-terrain cranes from Manitowoc are being put to test in Rajasthan, working ten hours a day to expand the state's huge road network. The cranes must overcome tough-terrain, huge distances and mountains in a region that already contains more than 17,500 km of highway.

The 300 t capacity Grove GMK6300Ls are owned by crane rental specialists Shri Dinesh Cranes and Asiatic Cranes. The all-terrain cranes are used almost every day at the project. Their quick set-up, versatility and class leading 80 m main boom are among the key assets that make them perfectly suited to the project.

Shri Dinesh owns two Grove GMK6300Ls. The company bought the first GMK6300L in India in 2012. That crane has completed more than 3,000 working hours in less than two years, which easily convinced the company to purchase a second GMK6300L, as Sumit Joshi, Director Shri Dinesh, explains.

"We are very happy with our GMK6300Ls," he says, adding, "Our first crane exceeded our expectations so we were keen to add a second to our fleet. Both cranes are performing perfectly.

The service support from TIL and Manitowoc has been really excellent and if the market conditions were better, we would have added a third Grove GMK6300L, which we will surely do in the near future."

The Grove GMK6300Ls started work in Rajasthan in October last year and will remain at the project until work is completed later this year. The cranes are predominantly used to build bridges along the vast road network expansion.

The Grove GMK6300Ls will move with the project and are deployed where required to perform a wide variety of lifts, both alone and in tandem. Among the most challenging lifts so far for the GMK6300Ls is the placement of huge steel girders, which measure up to 37 m long and weigh between 85 t and 110T. To carefully place these structural girders, the cranes worked in tandem and operated at a radius of 12 m.

"We've kept a keen eye on Shri Dinesh's GMK6300L since it arrived in India," adds Ganesh Poojari, Partner, Asiatic Cranes. "We were really impressed by what it offers?versatility, easy operation, impressive reach?and it looks superb. So the decision to purchase the crane was easy for us."

Based in Thane, Shri Dinesh Cranes is a leading crane rental company in India, offering a wide range of high capacity all-terrain cranes. Shri Dinesh was established in 1985 as a business logistics company specialising in warehousing and bulk transportation. In 2005, the company began renting cranes to meet customers' heavy lifting demands and now it has 15 all-terrain cranes of 110T capacity and above. Its two GMK6300Ls are the company's largest cranes.

Asiatic Cranes, based in Navi Mumbai, has experienced tremendous growth in the past few years and is now one of the leading crane rental companies in India. It provides both crane rental and repair and refurbishment services to customers across the country. Its fleet includes mobile and crawler cranes with capacities from 8 t to 365T.