Fake Terex cranes from South Korea found

Crane manufacturer Terex has reported another spate of counterfeiting, this time originating in South Korea.

The latest incident seems to centre around inferior copies of the Terex CC 2500-1 500-tonne lattice boom crawler cranes which according to the company use inferior steel, have poor weld quality and ill-fitting tracks.

The counterfeiters are selling their knock-offs as second-hand units - painted in either Terex white or Demag red - and are also copying serial numbers to disguise their identity.

This is just the latest of a series of incidents in which Terex has been forced to warn customers of counterfeits. In 2013 and 2009 Terex warned its customers to beware fake crawler cranes - cobbled together from a combination of outdated and counterfeit parts- that were poorly constructed and posed a serious risk to safety for operators and those working around them onsite. 

The 2013 case involved three different versions of the CC 2500-1 model, all of which seemed to have originated in China, with the fakes cropping up in China, South Korea, Singapore, India and Pakistan. The latest fakes are thought to have originated from South Korea.

"This is a serious situation, not only because this infringes on our intellectual property but, more importantly, it poses a serious safety risk for our customers," said Klaus Meissner, director of product strategy for Terex Cranes.

"The use of these inferior, counterfeit cranes can result in deadly consequences."

The company stressed the importance of conducting a thorough inspection of any used cranes by a qualified individual prior to purchase, especially in at-risk markets.