Buckner collaborates on Liebherr’s LTR 1150 for U.S. projects

Buckner HeavyLift Cranes, based in Graham, NC, is set to receive some of the first Liebherr LTR 1150 units delivered to the United States. This strategic investment expands Buckner’s extensive Liebherr telecrawler fleet, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and efficiency across North American markets.

Liebherr LTR 1150 telecrawler.

The decision to add the LTR 1150 to Buckner’s lineup aligns with their overall fleet strategy. Meredith Williams, chief operating officer for Buckner HeavyLift Cranes, highlighted the collaborative development process with Liebherr and the importance of customer feedback in the final product.

“For years now, Buckner has had one of the most expansive Liebherr telecrawler fleets,” said Williams. “The addition of the LTR 1150 makes perfect sense within our overall fleet. The willingness of Liebherr to hear our feedback as owners of their other telecrawler models and incorporate that into the design made this new model that much more attractive.”

Market demand

As 2024 comes to a close, the market for telescopic crawlers in North America continues to grow.

“At Buckner, our telescopic crawler fleet has consistently demonstrated exceptional utilization rates,” said Brian Miller, vice president of sales for Buckner. “Initially, we invested in telescopic cranes to complement our large lattice crawlers. However, their versatility, maneuverability and lifting capacity have led them to become standalone solutions for a wide range of projects, outperforming traditional rough terrain cranes.”

Buckner already has plans for the deployment of their multi-unit crane package.

“The first unit will be deployed in the wind industry, which has long been partial to the flexibility and maneuverability of the Liebherr telecrawlers,” said Williams. “While we see wind projects – both new erection and repower work – as the perfect home for this first unit, we know other industries are going to enjoy the same advantages of this new model on other projects soon.”

Cooperative design

Buckner’s collaboration with Liebherr on the design of the LTR 1150 played a critical role in delivering a product that meets real-world industry demands.

“We were excited but not surprised that Liebherr’s design and innovation team developed a product that included critical feedback from Buckner’s team and their customer base,” said Kevin Long, executive vice president of crane strategy, Buckner. “By combining the transportability of the LTR 1100 and favorable design options from the LTR 1220, Liebherr has created a mid-size telescopic crawler that should experience high utilization throughout multiple U.S. industries.”

Liebherr is always interested in gathering feedback from its customer base.

“As Buckner is operating a large number of telescopic crawler cranes, it was crucial for us to receive customer feedback when it comes to required capacities and technical features of this new model,” said Simon Schuster, area sales manager, Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH. “With open discussion and communication, we were able to further strengthen our partnership and business relations with Buckner.”

Customer perspective

One of Buckner’s customers, Takkion, is excited to use the new LTR 1150 units. Tyler Binnebose, director of construction for Takkion, emphasized the crane’s role in driving project efficiencies.

“Bringing new innovative products to the field helps increase efficiencies and find new ways to tackle old problems,” he said. Takkion plans to deploy the LTR 1150 on renewable energy projects, including both new construction and repowering work. Binnebose said the company will be pairing this unit with the main crane to help facilitate crane build, offloading components and tailing for the larger crawler cranes.