Cook added that this is not the only innovation. The power to weight ratio has been improved, and, as new steels have been used in the construction, Effer has been able to reduce the cylinder size, always an issue for comes to deck installed units. The new steels are S890, used on the structure, and S1100, which has been used for the extensions.

The extensions in themselves are interesting. The 275M knuckle-end crane on show at Seawork benefits from two, and has a reach of 8.24m while lifting 3 tons. However, the 275M model will accommodate as many as six extensions, giving it an extremely flexible reach of 16.79m with one ton of lift at its furthest stretch.

Cook told MJ that the beginnings of Effer's marine market started when the company realised that many of the difficulties that they had overcome in fitting cranes to truck beds meant that they had a raft of technologies which were transferrable to the marine industry - especially those that countered restrictions in working areas, weight and stability. 'The knuckle-end crane started out on trucks but was a real innovation for deck equipment', said Cook.

From such origins the company has built a reputation for specialist lifting gear, encompassing a range with over 30 models of crane available in many hundreds of variants and featuring lifting capacities from 2 to 400 t/m, with as many as four different boom configurations

The 275M crane on display at Seawork was on its way to Ocean Team, which had commissioned it for their cable laying barge. This particular crane will be fitted with a self levelling man riding basket. It will have an auxiliary remote operation radio control so the rider can have first and last say over where (and how fast) the basket travels on the end of the extendable arm.