The short answer
A lorry that can pick up its own load
A HIAB is a hydraulic lifting arm bolted to the chassis of a lorry, usually behind the cab. It folds away for the road and swings out when the lorry is parked up. The load travels on the bed of the same vehicle. When it arrives, the arm lifts the load off the bed and places it where it needs to go.
That is the whole trick, and it solves a problem that catches people out constantly. A normal flatbed can bring an item to your gate, but it cannot get it off. So you either need a forklift, a telehandler or a machine of your own waiting there, or the delivery sits on the pavement. With a HIAB the lifting equipment is already attached to the lorry, so one vehicle and one driver finish the job on their own.
The word itself is a brand name that the trade adopted. You will also hear lorry loader, lorry mounted crane and lorry crane. They all mean the same piece of kit.
Plenty of people say truck rather than lorry, or rental rather than hire. None of it matters to us. If you are not sure what to call it, describe the load instead and we will work out the rest.
When it is the right choice
The jobs a HIAB is built for
- There is nothing on site to unload the lorry with
- The item has to be set down in an exact spot, not just delivered
- The final position is past a fence, a wall or a hedge
- The item is heavy but the site is too small for anything large to work in
- Something has to come out of a building and go straight onto a lorry
- The load is going somewhere with no hard standing and no forklift
- You want one company responsible for the transport and the lift
- The collection point and the delivery point both need lifting
- The job is one item rather than a full load
- Booking two separate contractors would mean one of them waiting
What happens when the lorry turns up
The driver parks where he can reach the drop, puts the outriggers down and checks the ground under them, because the legs carry the weight of the lift and soft ground is the thing most likely to stop a job. Then he rigs the load, lifts it clear of the bed, swings it round and sets it down. On a straightforward delivery that is half an hour. On a tight access job most of the time goes on getting the lorry into the right position before anything is lifted at all.
If you are not sure which of our services fits what you have got, do not worry about picking the right page. Email us, say what the item is and where it has to go, and we will tell you which vehicle suits it.
The same vehicle, a dozen names
What people call a HIAB
Every one of these turns up in enquiries, and every one of them means a lorry with a lifting arm on the back. Ask for whichever you are used to.
| What people say | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| HIAB, HIAB hire | The Swedish manufacturer whose name the whole trade borrowed. The commonest word by a distance. |
| HIAB truck, HIAB truck hire, HIAB lorry hire | The same thing. Truck and lorry are used interchangeably in enquiries, and neither one changes the vehicle that arrives. |
| Lorry loader | The formal term, and the one the training bodies use. ALLMI certificates say lorry loader. |
| Lorry mounted crane, truck mounted crane, HIAB crane | Descriptive names for the arm itself, common in construction and engineering enquiries. |
| Self-loading crane lorry | Used where the point being made is that the vehicle loads itself, without anything meeting it on site. |
| HIAB rental, HIAB for hire, hire a HIAB | Different words for booking one. With us it always includes our own trained driver. |
| HIAB delivery, HIAB haulage, HIAB transport | Used when the carrying matters as much as the lift, which on most of our work it does. |
Common questions
HIABs, explained
What does HIAB actually stand for?
It is a brand name that became the word everybody uses. Hiab is a Swedish manufacturer, and the name comes from Hydrauliska Industri AB. The trade has used it for decades to mean any lorry mounted lifting arm, in the same way people say Hoover for a vacuum cleaner. If you ask for a HIAB, nobody in the industry will be confused.
What is the difference between a HIAB and a mobile lifting machine?
A HIAB is bolted to a lorry, so it arrives with your load already on the bed and lifts from where it stands. A mobile machine turns up empty on its own, lifts far more and much higher, and something else has to bring the load to it. For most everyday jobs the HIAB is the simpler and cheaper answer because it is one vehicle and one booking.
Is a HIAB the same as a lorry loader?
Yes. Lorry loader is the formal term, and a lorry mounted crane means the same thing. HIAB is just the word most people use.
Does the lifting arm come with a driver?
With us, always. It is a skilled job and the driver is trained and assessed for it. We hire the lorry and the man together.
How do I know if a HIAB will do my job?
The two questions are what the item weighs and where it has to end up. If the load can sit on a lorry bed, and the lorry can stand somewhere within reach of the final spot, a HIAB will almost certainly do it. Email us and describe both ends and we will tell you straight.
Can it lift over a fence or a building?
Often, yes. The arm reaches out and up, so a pod going into a back garden or a machine going over a wall is normal work. It depends on where the lorry can park and what is overhead, which is why we ask about access before anything else.
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