Manitowoc Crane Group last week agreed to purchase Marine Travelift’s Shuttlelift Carrydeck line of industrial cranes. Crane Group and Marine Travelift executives said the move is beneficial for both companies.

Manitowoc Crane Group’s industrial crane product line is sold under the name YardBoss, which is a Grove brand. The YardBoss product line has been manufactured by Shuttlelift under a supply agreement for the past two years. Over this same time period, the two companies have continued to offer their industrial cranes simultaneously to customers in this market.

“This agreement will benefit the customers of both Shuttlelift’s Carrydeck products and Grove’s YardBoss industrial cranes as the two leaders in this market come together,” said John Wheeler, executive vice president for Manitowoc Crane Group Americas. “Carrydeck customers will benefit from Grove’s 60 years of mobile crane innovation and Manitowoc Crane Group will benefit from Shuttlelift’s expertise in the industrial crane market.”

As a result of this acquisition, Manitowoc Crane Group will improve its position as the industry leader in the industrial crane market as well as further enhance its position as a leader in the mobile crane market offering a more complete product range. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Manitowoc Crane Group intends to continue selling the Shuttlelift Carrydeck crane line through its existing dealers, while also selling its YardBoss cranes line through the Grove dealer network, said Dave Birkhauser, senior vice president, sales for MCG’s Americas region.

“We’ll continue serving both dealer organizations as we are now. It should be a seamless transition,” Birkhauser said. “As both organizations have historically focused on different aspects within the industrial crane market, we foresee little change.”

Marine Travelift has agreed to continue manufacturing the Carrydeck and YardBoss cranes through the end of 2007 under a mutually beneficial arrangement. Manitowoc Crane Group will assume responsibility for manufacturing the product beginning in 2008.

The Manitowoc Co. is a global provider of lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes and boom trucks.