About Cranes and Lifting

Cranes and Lifting

Overview

Cranes and Lifting is an Australian trade magazine dedicated to the crane and lifting industry across Australia and New Zealand. Published by Prime Creative Media from Melbourne, it is described by its publisher as "the only independent trade magazine dedicated to the Australasian and NZ crane industry," carrying a mix of equipment news, product stories and coverage of industry issues for what it calls the multi-billion dollar lifting and carrying industry. Its own About page calls it "the premier dedicated resource for Australasia's crane industry."

The magazine serves the construction, resources and transport industries that depend on cranes — mobile and tower crane hire companies, rigging and heavy-haulage contractors, equipment manufacturers and distributors, and the project businesses that hire lifting capacity. It is published in print and digital editions, supported by a website carrying news and an equipment marketplace, a free weekly newsletter, a LinkedIn page with one of the larger followings in Australian trade media, and, more recently, a podcast.

History

By the magazine's own account, Cranes and Lifting had been in production for eleven years when it published a tenth-anniversary feature in 2018, placing its origins in the late 2000s. That anniversary feature, written by Patrick Lau, interviewed early supporters who remained advertisers and readers a decade on — among them Rodger Weste of engineering consultancy WGA, John Stewart, Manitowoc's vice president and general manager for Australia, Danny Black, general manager of Terex Australia and then president of the Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA), and representatives of Gleason Cranes, Preston Hire, Radius Cranes and Tutt Bryant. Their recollections chart the sector the magazine grew up with: the mining and LNG construction boom, the GFC-era cycle, the shift from resources work to state infrastructure projects, and the tightening of safety standards and national regulation.

The anniversary voices also describe the role the magazine had assumed. CICA's Danny Black characterised it as "putting forward the voice of our members, and of the industry," and "an independent source of information"; Preston Hire's David Serg called it "the peak subscription for the crane industry." The relationship with the industry council has remained a feature of the title: CICA's chief executive, Brandon Hitch, contributes a regular CEO report column to the magazine, as documented in his opening column for the first issue of 2024.

Cranes and Lifting sits within Prime Creative Media's construction and infrastructure portfolio. The publisher — which began in 2003 with a single printed title and describes itself as Australia's largest business-to-business publisher — has expanded by acquisition, taking on Cirrus Media's industrial titles in 2015 and, in 2025, seven wealth management titles from Momentum Media, while its events arm runs industry awards and exhibitions including the Women in Industry Awards, which the magazine promotes to its readers.

Content and Coverage

Each issue mixes equipment news, product coverage and industry reporting. Product journalism follows the global crane manufacturers into the Australasian market: recent coverage has included Zoomlion's ZAT4000H763, billed by its maker as the world's most powerful all-terrain crane at 4,000 tonnes capacity, and Manitowoc's Potain MR 819 luffing jib tower crane, launched at bauma 2025 as the company's largest luffer to date, with a 64-tonne maximum capacity for dense high-rise sites. Company features profile the hire and rigging businesses that operate the fleets — recent examples promoted through the title's channels include Surelift Crane Hire's twenty years serving Central Queensland's coal sector, Borger Cranes taking delivery of its 100th Hino truck, and Everwilling Cranes' four decades of growth from a small Sydney business.

Industry coverage addresses the issues that govern lifting work: safety systems and standards, licensing and national regulation through bodies such as the NHVR and Safe Work Australia, emissions standards for crane engines, project pipelines across construction, resources and energy, and the economics of fleet ownership and finance. The CICA CEO report gives the industry council a regular platform on these questions. The website extends the magazine with daily news categorised under industry news, product news and products, and a classified marketplace carrying priced crane listings — new and used machines with specifications, locations and dealer contacts — drawn from the publisher's shared equipment marketplace platform.

In 2025 the title extended into audio with the launch of the Cranes and Lifting Podcast, its first podcast series, opening with a conversation with UAA Group chief executive Stan Alexandropoulos and general manager of distribution strategy Marc Crossman about the crane insurance and underwriting business.

Audience and Reach

The magazine's readers are the owners, managers and operators of the Australasian crane industry: crane hire and rigging companies, construction and resources contractors who buy lifting services, equipment distributors and manufacturers, and industry specialists in safety, finance and insurance. The publisher does not release a current audited circulation for the title in the material available for this profile, and none is asserted here. A listing in Write Away Communication's media directory in the early 2020s put the magazine's circulation at more than 4,500, its website at more than 10,000 average monthly page views and its newsletter at more than 4,500 subscribers; those are dated directory figures rather than current audited numbers. The scale most visible today is digital and social: the title's LinkedIn page had more than 36,900 followers in October 2026, with posts appearing several times a week — a substantial professional audience for a single-industry trade title.

Digital Presence

Cranes and Lifting's website, cranesandlifting.com.au, carries the title's news service, digital magazine editions and the equipment marketplace, and the site's subscription offer promotes the print magazine alongside a free weekly newsletter. The title is active on LinkedIn, where its page posts new articles several times a week — posts were appearing within hours and days of this profile's preparation in October 2026, confirming current operation — and its content is catalogued by media databases such as Muck Rack, which lists the magazine as a national, English-language trade publication. Prime Creative Media also cross-promotes the title across its network: sister publication Roads & Infrastructure Magazine has offered its own readers a free print and e-news subscription to Cranes and Lifting, introducing the crane title to a road construction readership.

Ownership and Organisation

Cranes and Lifting is published by Prime Creative Media, the Melbourne-based multi-platform publishing and events business. Prime Creative Media describes itself as Australia's largest business-to-business publisher, specialising in communications for high-growth industries including commercial road transport, mining and manufacturing, food and beverage, construction and education; it began in 2003 with a single printed title and has grown its portfolio to more than thirty titles through development and acquisition. John Murphy, its long-serving managing director, is chairman of the group, and Christine Clancy was identified as chief executive in 2025. The magazine is produced from the publisher's Melbourne headquarters, with LinkedIn listing the title's headquarters as Melbourne, Victoria, and its journalists' work appearing across the publisher's network of industry platforms.

Contact and Availability

Cranes and Lifting is available by print and digital subscription — the publisher's current company profile describes the magazine as published bi-monthly, while its website also promotes subscriptions and its free weekly newsletter — and online at cranesandlifting.com.au, where readers can browse news, digital editions, marketplace listings and podcast episodes. The publisher, Prime Creative Media, is headquartered at 379 Docklands Drive, Docklands, Victoria 3008, Australia, phone +61 3 9690 8766, with a Sydney office at Suite 11.01, Level 11, 201 Miller Street, North Sydney, New South Wales. Advertising and media kit information is available through the magazine's website.