Hydrauliska Industri AB (Hiab) is a Finnish manufacturer of loader cranes, demountable container handlers, forestry cranes, truck-mounted forklifts and tail lifts. In the UK ‘HIAB’ (pronounced high’-ab) is used as a synonym for a loader crane of any make. Similar to the company ‘Hoover’ where vacuum cleaners are concerned!
1947 saw the launch of HIAB 19, the first hydraulic vehicle-crane in series production.
The name, Hiab, is an abreviation of Hydraliska Industri AB which is a Swedish company founded in 1944 by Eric Sundin who was a ski instructor! Sundin discovered a way to ustilsie a truck’s engine to power loader cranes through the use of hydraulics.
On the other side of the Bothnian Sea in Finland at about the same time, three brothers, Mikko, Mauno and Martti Terho developed a mechanical cable-operated interchangeable platform loader (Cablelift) that utilised the truck’s front winch, making it possible to use a variety of platform bodies. In 1949 they started Multilift to manufacture their load handling equipment.
At Sussex Transport we operate a fleet of Hiab vehicles in our road haulage / general haulage division.
Hiabs are also known as – Self loading vehicles / Crane mounted vehicles or Crane assisted haulage.
Our Hiab vehicles primarily work in the construction industry, delivering and erecting steel fabrications and installing site accomodation such as cabins and containers. We also move bricks, blocks, generators, forklifts, tipping skips, heras fence panels, pedestrian barriers and plenty more.
Sussex Transport’s HIAB road haulage division, regularly works for customers in other sectors too. We deliver and install commercial electrical cabinets, large pumps for the oil industry, engines for boat manufacturers, factory machinary, street lighting and traffic management equipment along with the occasional helicopter, timber house or hot-tub for the general public.
