Seasons greeting to all our readers and advertisers

You may have noticed a few changes to your magazine this year. There were changes to the partnership that published Lift & Hoist Australasia and we rebranded as Australasia Lift & Hoist – I know, you are mesmerised by our creativity!

We are fully committed to serving the industrial lifting community in Australasia and the Asia Pacific region and, with that in mind, we are making some changes to the way we deliver news, technology and product updates to our readers in these regions next year.

Next year ALH will be included as a supplement within International Lift & Hoist, ALH’s sister magazine. This will bring the activities in the region to a wider global audience digitally, while retaining its autonomy as a printed issue.

In addition, we will be reintroducing our bi-weekly newsletters to the region driving activity through our website and social media accounts, which have shown impressive traction in with our Australasia and Asia Pacific readers.

We are very excited by the activity in the regions, Australasia has a distinct character, which informs our coverage of MEWPs, telehandlers, forklifts, cranes and lifting equipment.

The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association Australia & New Zealand is going from strength to strength, recently signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Crane Association of New Zealand (see page 11). Drawing further attention to the importance of best practice and safety in the lifting industry.

The International Powered Access Federation has long had influence in the Asia Pacific region, this year holding its 10^th IPAF Asia Conference at the Renaissance Nanjing Olympic Center Hotel and focusing on industry safety, technological innovation and regulatory development. Following the conference, the first IPAF Approved Training Centre opened extending the number of countries to seven in the region to deliver the MEWP (mobile elevated work platform) operator training, which includes South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Myanmar and China.

ALH is the only journal that covers industrial lifting in the region and we hope you will enjoy our more interactive and current approach.

Maria Hadlow & Kate Hearn