About Liebherr
Founded in Germany and based in Switzerland, Liebherr is credited with inventing the mobile tower crane in 1949. Today, the company is a globally recognized manufacturer of cranes and construction machinery for mining, material handling, and maritime-related industries. In addition to cranes, excavators, and other construction equipment, Liebherr has branched out into refrigeration, aerospace, and even hotels. Initially founded as a way to provide lodging for visitors near the Liebherr production site in Killarney, Ireland, the company eventually expanded its hotel business to include locations in Ireland, Austria, and Germany.

Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 All-Terrain Crane
Reconstruction To New Construction
Liebherr’s history began in the aftermath of World War II, when much of Germany was in ruins and a massive rebuilding effort was underway. To help meet the large demand for construction equipment, Hans Liebherr expanded his parents’ building company to manufacture tools and machinery. From there, the company developed construction equipment, including the first mobile tower crane and the first hydraulic excavator in Europe.
Innovation continued with the world’s first hydraulic crane in 1959. Another first came in 1977, when the company unveiled the LTM 1025, the world’s first all-terrain mobile crane. The versatile crane had a 24-metre (79-foot) telescopic arm and a load capacity of 22.5 tonnes (25 U.S. tons). In 2015, Liebherr delivered its first mobile harbor crane, the LHM 800, with a lifting capacity of 307.5 t (339 U.S. t) and a boom length of 64 m (210 ft). The company built its largest crane yet in 2017; the Heavy-Lift offshore crane HCL is used for the installation of wind farms within the oil and gas industry as well as for dismantling offshore facilities. It can lift up to 3,000 t (3,307 U.S. t) to a height of 170 m (558 ft) with a 50-m (164-ft) jib.
Going Global
In the 1950s, Liebherr opened a factory in Killarney, Ireland, that manufactures tower, container, shipyard, and special cranes for the British and North American markets. The company expanded to South Africa in the 1960s, marking the company’s first facility outside of Europe and furthering Liebherr’s international growth. Liebherr built its first U.S. production facility in 1970 in Newport News, Virginia. Today the company has 14 locations in the U.S., which in addition to the Virginia manufacturing facility, include retail and rental stores, service centres, and aerospace service centres.
Many Machines
Liebherr manufactures a range of earthmoving machines from excavators, to wheel loaders, pipe layers, telescopic handlers, articulated trucks, and piling and drilling rigs. Liebherr also makes numerous types of specialty cranes, including tower cranes, fast-erecting cranes, top-slewing cranes, mobile construction cranes, compact cranes, all-terrain cranes, lattice boom truck cranes, fire service cranes, military cranes, crawler cranes, mobile harbour cranes, ship-to-shore container cranes, and more.
Find The Right Liebherr Crane
You’ll typically find a large selection of new and used Liebherr cranes for sale, including all-terrain, crawler, harbour, tower, and truck cranes, for sale on CraneTrader.ca. Popular lines include HS 895 and LR 1300 lattice boom crawler cranes, LTM 1500 all-terrain cranes, and many others.