59 Zoomlion Tower Cranes, All Suspected Defective Parts Replaced

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that at the Construction Machinery Manufacturing Defect Review Committee held on the 9th, it reviewed and approved the corrective action plan for manufacturing defects of tower cranes submitted by the importer Dudu International.

This review was held to evaluate the appropriateness of the voluntary corrective action (recall) plan submitted by the importer Dudu International, following user reports of cracks occurring in the slew wing mast welds of Chinese-made tower cranes manufactured by Zoomlion.

The slew wing mast is a component that connects the turntable (slewing device) and the jib (the horizontal arm that suspends and rotates the load).

The importer and manufacturer analyzed the cause of the weld cracks as freezing damage caused by rainwater entering the mast and freezing. To resolve the freezing issue, they proposed a supplementary measure to weld a rainwater shield plate to the mast to prevent rainwater ingress.

However, the review committee expressed concerns that adding a rainwater shield plate to the current part could cause secondary issues such as weld deformation, and the possibility of poor weld quality could not be completely ruled out. Therefore, they proposed a full replacement of the part, which was accepted by the importer and manufacturer and finally approved.

Accordingly, all 59 slew wing masts of the L250-18 model tower cranes manufactured from December 2017 to February of this year will be replaced with new parts under the responsibility of the manufacturer Zoomlion.

Kim Kwangrim, Director of the Construction Industry Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "This action is significant as it is the first case where the original manufacturer who directly produced the tower crane guaranteed safety and took responsible measures," adding, "In the future, the safety of tower cranes should be verified under the responsibility of the original manufacturer."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.