Crane shortage tied to China, Dubai

About a quarter of the world’s biggest construction cranes are operating in China and the Middle Eastern boomtown of Dubai, according to Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trade Employees Association, which represents city construction contractors. The crane involved in Friday’s fatal Upper East Side accident was 20 years old. “When you are competing for leasing cranes, especially new ones, your prices are going to be extremely high because developers doing the work in places like China and Dubai will pay any cost to get to the head of the line,” Coletti said. He also said crane rental prices have gotten much higher since the 1990s.