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This was in contrast to other segments in the company that increased sales over the past few months.

The crane segment did fair better in the Americas, however, where there has been signs of economic recovery driven by energy and commercial construction applications.

Demand remained slow for large crawler cranes worldwide, as the market tends to recover later in the business cycle, says Terex.  "Also contributing to crawler crane demand weakness was the postponement or cancellation of certain wind projects in Germany and the UK due to reductions in government funding," said a company spokesman.

Loss from operations during the first quarter of 2011 was $22.5 million, or 5.6% of net sales, compared with a loss from operations of $3.1 million, or 0.7% of net sales, during the first quarter of 2010.

Operating results were negatively impacted by material cost increases, competitive pricing, product mix, and a $5 million charge taken for a customer insolvency, said the company. But they were helped slightly by improved cost absorption, especially in North America.

Larger than expected losses of about $16 million were reported in the port equipment business, mainly due to delayed deliveries and a cost structure that currently remains too high, said Terex.