To mark the opening of the Rugby World Cup in Japan, UNIC Cranes Europe, the European master dealer for Japanese manufacturer UNIC Furukawa, has launched a UNIC Cranes branded rugby ball to celebrate the long-standing partnership between the two companies.
From small beginnings UNIC Cranes Europe, as part of the GGR Group started off with just £5000 of capital investment in 1995. By 2001, brother and sister Graeme and Gill Riley travelled to Japan to explore the possibility of introducing mini spider cranes to the UK market. The mini crane concept had been pioneered in Japan some 30 years earlier but was still widely unheard of in Europe.
Following the CE marking process in 2001, UNIC Cranes Europe became one of the first companies to import UNIC mini spider cranes to the UK. In 2003, the first UNIC URW-295 arrived in the UK and UNIC Cranes Europe was officially launched, where the first UNIC mini crane was sold in Europe. In 2004, UNIC Cranes Europe became sole distributors for Furukawa UNIC Cranes throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Graeme Riley, CEO of UNIC Cranes Europe commented “The Rugby World Cup taking place in Japan has given us the opportunity highlight our affinity with Japan. Our relationship stems over 18 years, where we have worked closely with UNIC Furukawa to bring some of the most pioneering mini spider cranes to both the UK and European market. We have been a UNIC Cranes dealer for over 16 years whilst continually being market leaders in the UK for the both the sale and hire of UNIC mini spider cranes”.
“As a company we participate in a lot of sponsorship opportunities related to the sport of rugby in the UK. We currently sponsor Chinnor Rugby Football Club and Winnington Park Rugby Football Club. The last Rugby World Cup in 2015 was hosted by England, which gave us the opportunity to host clients and employees at matches at Twickenham Stadium, not far from our southern depot”.
Today, the UNIC dealer network spans over 28 different countries, with UNIC mini spider cranes proving invaluable for a vast range of industries including glazing, construction, utilities, defence, waterways and rail sectors and more throughout.
