Two days on the MK3053C in Taiwan as the knuckle boom crane finally reaches its home market
Maeda ran two days of MK3053C training with its Taiwanese distributor in July, weeks before the knuckle boom crane was released on the Japanese domestic market for the first time.
Training at Taiwan Honest Sky
The sessions were held on 15 and 16 July at Taiwan Honest Sky Co., Ltd, Maeda’s dealer in Taiwan, and covered operation and handling of the MK3053C. The manufacturer has published a second set of photographs from the visit that did not fit into its original report.
Dealer training carries more weight for an articulated knuckle boom crane than for a conventional telescopic mini crane. The folding boom gives working positions a straight boom cannot reach, but it also demands that the operator understands how the moment limiter behaves as the geometry changes, and knuckle boom machines are still unfamiliar to many crews coming from telescopic spider cranes.
Export first, home market second
The MK3053C has an unusual sales history. Maeda has offered it as an export model since 2024, but it was not available in Japan until a domestic version was launched on 27 August 2025 — meaning overseas dealers such as Taiwan Honest Sky had more than a year of experience with the crane before Japanese customers could buy one.
The sequence is not accidental. Japanese crane approval and inspection requirements differ from those applied to export machines, and a domestic release usually follows a separate specification and certification process rather than a simple change of decals.
Maeda said the model would go on contributing to construction sites both in Japan and abroad. The MK3053C is also offered in a battery-powered MK3053CB version, which the manufacturer has shown at events in Australia and Taiwan.
Source: Maeda — Photos: Maeda