By Jeff Cronin

CEG ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Sims Crane and Equipment Company purchased the assets of another long-standing Florida crane company.

Sims President Steve Stodghill said the acquisition of Miami Crane Services Inc. near Miami, FL, will improve the company’s local service, inventory and manpower.

Miami Crane Services was founded in 1955 by Roby Epling, who molded it into a powerhouse in the crane rental industry.

With the acquisition, which became official June 4, Sims has moved its Southeast Florida branch to the former Miami Crane site at 104000 NW South River Dr. in Medley, FL. The branch along 142nd St. in North Miami will eventually be phased out, but Stodghill said it could be kept as a storage facility should business really begin to boom.

Sims had been looking to expand in the Miami market when the opportunity to acquire Miami Crane Services appeared. While Sims has moved in and out of the market for 25 years, it has maintained a constant presence since September 2001.

Stodghill said the deal was a great way to expand overnight, bringing on approximately 50 employees and 40 cranes, plus a fleet of support trucks and rigging accessories. It takes a lot more work to train new employees and expand a fleet one crane at a time.

Stodghill said Sims will continue to offer the same full line of crane services as Miami Crane “with minimal changes in office or operation personnel.”

He hopes to maintain Miami Crane’s loyal customer base of “commercial and industrial contractors that Miami Crane has catered to and fostered relationships with over the past 50 years.”

Sims operates more than 550 pieces of lifting equipment, including more than 230 cranes.

And now, the former Miami Crane customers have the ability to purchase equipment through Sims.

Sims is the Florida dealer for Kobelco crawler cranes; hydraulic truck, rough terrain and all-terrain cranes and boom trucks from Tadano; Shuttle Lift industrial carry deck cranes; JLG aerial boom and scissor lifts; JLG Trak rough terrain telescopic forklifts; Master Craft straight mast forklifts; and Champion Elevators personnel and material hoists.

In addition to the rental fleet, Sims owns more than 200 sales, service and support trucks, tractors and trailers.

Bob Sheely, the branch manager of the North Miami location will continue his duties in Medley. Epling (who Stodghill said will remain with the company as a “mentor and a consultant”), Dale Thompson, Mike Aubke and dispatcher Will Brewer round out the staff.

Headquartered in Tampa, Sims Crane also has locations in Orlando, Mulberry, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Ft. Myers.

For more information, call 800/573-0780. CEG

This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.

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