COPMA is CPS Group's line of heavy-duty articulated (knuckle-boom) loader cranes, from compact models to the flagship COPMA 7500, used in construction, marine, utility, recovery, and military logistics.

What makes COPMA cranes different?

COPMA cranes use a hydraulic architecture with fewer diverter valves than typical competitors, so less pump energy is lost to heat, so more power reaches the boom and the crane sustains a higher duty cycle, with a simpler, field-repairable design.

PESCI is CPS Group's brand of marine and offshore lifting cranes.

Does CPS Group offer crane autonomy?

Yes. Our OVERRIDE drive-by-wire technology brings electronic and remote control to COPMA, PESCI and CPS cranes, available across the whole range for both civil and defense applications.

How do I get pricing, parts, or a quote?

Contact CPS service or an authorized CPS / COPMA dealer through the website.

What is a tandem lift?

A tandem lift, or dual lift, is a lift where two cranes share a single load. It is used when one crane cannot handle the weight at the required radius, or when the load is too long or awkward to balance and place on a single hook.

How much capacity do you lose in a tandem lift?

Standard practice is to limit each crane to around 75 percent of its rated capacity at the working radius. The margin covers the dynamic load that can transfer between the cranes if they move out of step.

Why use a COPMA 7500 for a tandem lift?

The COPMA 7500 is one of the largest cranes in the COPMA knuckle boom range. It combines a high lifting moment and long hydraulic reach with proportional control and load-moment limiting, so it can carry a heavy share of the load and stay precisely matched to the second crane.

What happened at Hong Kong airport?

Two truck-mounted loader cranes, one of them a COPMA 7500, worked a tandem lift of an outsize project module beside an Antonov Airlines An-124 freighter at Hong Kong International Airport.

What is the most important part of a tandem lift?

Planning and coordination. The load must be weighed and its centre of gravity known, both cranes de-rated and rigged for an even share, and the whole operation run by one lift director so the two cranes move as one.

How to perform a tandem lift with a COPMA 7500 loader crane

How to perform a tandem lift with a COPMA 7500 loader craneAt Hong Kong International Airport, two truck-mounted loader cranes worked side by side to lift an outsize project module out of an Antonov Airlines An-124 freighter. One of the two was a COPMA 7500, among the largest cranes in the COPMA knuckle boom range. It is a textbook tandem lift: two cranes sharing a single load that neither could place on its own in the space available.A tandem lift looks simple from a distance and is anything but. This guide walks through how to plan and perform one with a COPMA 7500, using the Hong Kong job as the worked example. A COPMA 7500 and a second loader crane rigged for a tandem lift beside an Antonov An-124 at Hong Kong airport

A COPMA 7500 and a second loader crane rigged for a tandem lift beside an Antonov An-124 at Hong Kong airport

Two loader cranes rigged beside the An-124 before the pick, one of them the COPMA 7500.

What a tandem lift is, and when you need oneIn a tandem lift (also called a dual lift) two cranes take one load between them. You reach for it when a single machine cannot do the job for one of three reasons: the load is heavier than one crane's rating at the radius you have to work at; it is too long or too awkward to balance on a single hook; or the set-down point is somewhere one crane cannot reach cleanly. Splitting the load between two cranes gives you both the capacity and the control to lift it level and place it precisely.The trade is complexity. The moment two cranes share a load, every movement of one changes what the other carries, so the whole operation has to be planned and run as a single coordinated lift, not two cranes working near each other.Plan the lift before anything leaves the groundThe plan is where a tandem lift is won. Work through it in order:

Weigh the load and find its centre of gravity. You cannot split a load you have not measured. The share each crane takes depends on where the hooks sit relative to the centre of gravity, so both the weight and the balance point drive everything that follows.

De-rate both cranes. Standard practice is to limit each crane to around 75 percent of its rated capacity at the working radius. The reduction covers the dynamic load that transfers between the two machines if they ever fall out of step. Read both load charts at the actual radius, not the best case.

Rig for an even share. Size the slings, shackles and any spreader or lifting beam so the planned split actually lands on each hook. Where the load allows, a spreader keeps the lines vertical and the share predictable.

Prepare the ground. Set both cranes on firm, level standing with outriggers fully deployed on mats sized for the ground bearing pressure. A tandem lift puts two sets of outrigger loads into the same patch of apron.

Appoint one lift director. One person runs the lift and both operators take their cues from that single voice. Agree the signals and the radio discipline before the hooks take any weight.

Two cranes sharing one outsize load during a tandem lift beside an Antonov An-124

The load shared between the two cranes. Once both hooks are loaded, every movement has to be matched.

Performing the lift, step by step

Position both cranes so each hook sits directly over its planned pick point, with the booms at the radius the plan assumed.

Take the weight together. Both cranes come up slowly and in step until the load is just clear of its supports. Stop and check that each crane is carrying the share the plan predicted and that the load is level.

Lift level and slow. Raise the load keeping it horizontal throughout. Small corrections only, one crane at a time, on the lift director's call.

Slew or travel in sync. If the load has to move across, both cranes move together so the geometry between them stays fixed. This is where proportional, fine control earns its keep.

Set down together. Lower in step onto the trailer or stands, keeping the load level until it is fully supported and the lines go slack.

Why the COPMA 7500 suits tandem work Close-up of the COPMA 7500 loader crane boom at Hong Kong airport

The COPMA 7500, one of the largest cranes in the COPMA knuckle boom range.

A tandem lift asks two things of each crane: enough capacity to carry its share at the radius, and fine enough control to stay matched to its partner. The COPMA 7500 brings both.

High lifting moment and long reach, so a single truck-mounted machine can carry a heavy share at distance without the footprint or setup time of a crawler crane.

Progressive hydraulic extensions, which place the hook accurately across a wide working envelope.

Proportional control with load-moment limiting, the steady, metered movement that keeps a shared load level through the pick, the slew and the set-down.

Truck-mounted mobility, so the crane drives to the apron, sets up and works, then clears the stand quickly, which matters on a fixed air-cargo window.

Safety essentials

One appointed lift director runs the lift; both operators follow the same signals.

De-rated load charts for both cranes, read at the real working radius.

Load-moment limiting active on both machines throughout.

Outriggers fully set on mats sized for the ground, both cranes level.

A clear exclusion zone, and taglines to steady the load rather than hands.

Stop criteria agreed up front, and the authority for anyone to call a halt.

Wind and weather kept inside the limits for the load's sail area.

Handled this way, a tandem lift turns a load that no single machine could place into a controlled, repeatable operation. The COPMA 7500 is built for exactly this kind of heavy, awkward, high-value work. Explore the COPMA 7500 and the wider range on the CPS Group website.