5 minutes - magazine 01 | 2025

Rolling and lifting

Riadh Tarsim is Managing Director of ATM Levage in Valenton near Paris. Founded in 1996 as a transport company, Riadh expanded the company’s range of services in 2008 to include crane hire. However, transport and lifting operations are not the 51-year-old family man’s only passion – he also enjoys top-class sport.

As a disabled athlete, he was runner-up in para-cycling (H3 category) in 2018 and two-time world champion in 2021 and 2022, as well as winning the silver medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. We spoke to him about how to tackle challenges.

Riadh Tarsim at the Customer Days 2024 in Ehingen.

As we conduct the interview, the June sun beats down on the concrete surface behind the Liebherr repair centre. Hundreds of Customer Day visitors marvel at the new products from Ehingen. Just a few metres away from us, a black LTR 1060 gleams in the light – it is the latest addition to Riadh Tarsim’s fleet of cranes. “When we started crane hire at ATM Levage, I started with two second-hand machines. A year later, I bought three new cranes from Liebherr. And since then? I’ve been a satisfied Liebherr customer,” laughs Riadh.

With passion for the cause

The company now has a total of around 90 machines in its fleet – in addition to a wide variety of cranes, for example, spider lifts, truck-mounted working platforms, working platforms on crawlers, mini electric and spider cranes as well as crawler cranes – in order to fulfil all of its customers’ lifting requirements with a comprehensive range of products. In addition to the boss himself, 160 employees are also involved – all of whom put their heart and soul into their work. The question is, how do you manage to be an elite athlete alongside your full-time job? It should be noted that Riadh has been a member of the French national handbike team for nine years. “That’s quite simple: It’s the passion. I take the time to do things right – in all areas. When I ride my handbike, I’m in sport mode. When I’m in the office, I’m working. And when I’m with my family, I dedicate my time to them.”

Before the Olympic Games: Setting up the grandstands for the disabled football tournament: CECIFOOT behind the Eiffel Tower.

Mindfulness is the key word here. The father of three sons manages to spend at least two to three hours a day on his handbike. Even more at the weekend. Perhaps it is also the strong will to accept and master challenges and to have a clear goal in mind: “People often come to me and say that they have a problem. I then reply that I have the solution. Sometimes they are surprised by my answer at first, but they know that they can rely on me. Another advantage is that we invest in our machinery accordingly and have a very broad base – this sets us apart in the industry and allows us to respond to all lifting requirements.”

Seeing challenges as opportunities

The economic and property crisis of 2008 was a decisive event in pursuing this entrepreneurial strategy. Riadh knew how to make good use of this. “Many companies have not survived the crisis. To prevent this from happening to us, I had to diversify our portfolio. So, I studied cranes – from the drive train to the boom. As I’ve been in a wheelchair since a skiing accident 29 years ago, I wasn’t able to ride my first crane. But I had to know every detail in order to make the right purchase decision.” And he succeeded.

Riadh and his team are busy with new and exciting projects every day. One of these is the assembly of support masts with an LTM 1120-4.1 for the first cable car in the Île-de-France region in the Val-de-Marne department. It will serve five stations in 2025 and take suburban residents quickly to the nearest underground railway.

ATM Levage was also involved in the “Grand Paris Express” construction site, the new metro of superlatives, with a wide variety of transport equipment and a wide range of configurations, as well as in the preparations for the Olympic Games in the French capital. “I may not have competed in the 2024 Paralympics, but I brought the Olympic flame to my city and we helped to build the athletes’ village. We also carried out several lifts at the Stade de France and the new water sports stadium.”

And what’s next? Whether in his professional or private life: Riadh will continue to tackle all challenges head-on. “Sport is the best method to be successful at it.”