Australian crane rental company Boom Logistics last week said it plans to lay off 130 employees and reduce its fleet by about 40 low-tonnage cranes. The Melbourne-based company said it will not meet its expectations for its 2009 fiscal year.

The company said it experienced a “severe contraction of the industrial services, non-residential construction and capital equipment markets in Australia.” The company lost AU $0.5 million (about U.S. $380,000) in its fiscal third quarter, not including the AU $0.9 million restructuring costs to its Victorian Melbourne Mobile business, $1.3 million in stock write-downs and losses on the sale of second-hand crane assets, and $0.6 million in unrealized foreign exchange gains.

The company said crane rental delivered a better result in the third quarter of FY09 than in the same quarter a year ago, however, overall activity is decreasing with specific industrial services work in Western Australia and New South Wales is expected to drop in the coming months.

“In what is proving to be a very difficult trading environment, Boom will continue to focus on the delivery of safe, effective and value-driven solutions to our customers,” said CEO Brenden Mitchell. “The current environment demands that we focus on cost and debt reduction, whilst continuing to improve our fleet profile for long-term substantial growth.”