Counterfeit cranes?
January 6, 2009 | Comments (1)
We have received a bulletin from the Middle East alerting buyers to beware of counterfeit Tadano truck cranes.
The bulletin concerns a number of used cranes that have apparently been exported from China to the Middle East via Jebel Ali, that to a casual eye look like genuine Tadano cranes. We are told that a “considerable number of fake Tadano’s” have already been imported into the region.
Tadano does have a manufacturing facility in China, which produces cranes for the local market. The counterfeit cranes are not manufactured in this facility nor in any other Tadano plant. So far we have not received any definitive information on exactly who has been producing them.
We are told that whoever it is has even used Tadano serial numbers and corresponding chassis numbers on some of the cranes. So simply checking the serial number is not enough to confirm that the crane is genuine. A physical inspection or careful evaluation of photographs along with a serial number verification is required for a proper authentication.
Tell-tell signs include printed rather than embossed serial number plates, decals that are not quite correct, and in some cases simply on the wrong crane. Some of the claimed counterfeits use Tadano’s distinctive boom shape and construction making it hard to believe that they are all counterfeit.
If you have any further information on this apparent scam we would be pleased to hear from you,
Vertikal Comment
Normally it is grey market cranes or copies of small access platforms or stolen designs that are the issue of such bulletins. To come across apparent forgeries with such large and complex pieces if equipment is peculiar to say the least.
It is one thing for a company to place Tadano decals on cheap locally built Chinese cranes but to pass off with forged serial number plates is another issue entirely. We are not sure that we have the full story here, and are publishing in order to both draw attention to the matter, warn buyers to be alert and perhaps to stimulate more information input on the matter
The bulletin concerns a number of used cranes that have apparently been exported from China to the Middle East via Jebel Ali, that to a casual eye look like genuine Tadano cranes. We are told that a “considerable number of fake Tadano’s” have already been imported into the region.
A counterfeit Tadano TG550E
A genuine Tadano GT550EX
The same crane from the front
Another counterfeit crane?
Tadano does have a manufacturing facility in China, which produces cranes for the local market. The counterfeit cranes are not manufactured in this facility nor in any other Tadano plant. So far we have not received any definitive information on exactly who has been producing them.
A counterfeit Tadano TG500E look at the boom
We are told that whoever it is has even used Tadano serial numbers and corresponding chassis numbers on some of the cranes. So simply checking the serial number is not enough to confirm that the crane is genuine. A physical inspection or careful evaluation of photographs along with a serial number verification is required for a proper authentication.
A genuine Tadano serial number plate
A counterfeit serial number plate
Tell-tell signs include printed rather than embossed serial number plates, decals that are not quite correct, and in some cases simply on the wrong crane. Some of the claimed counterfeits use Tadano’s distinctive boom shape and construction making it hard to believe that they are all counterfeit.
A page from the bulletin from Tadano's Middle East office
If you have any further information on this apparent scam we would be pleased to hear from you,
Vertikal Comment
Normally it is grey market cranes or copies of small access platforms or stolen designs that are the issue of such bulletins. To come across apparent forgeries with such large and complex pieces if equipment is peculiar to say the least.
It is one thing for a company to place Tadano decals on cheap locally built Chinese cranes but to pass off with forged serial number plates is another issue entirely. We are not sure that we have the full story here, and are publishing in order to both draw attention to the matter, warn buyers to be alert and perhaps to stimulate more information input on the matter
