Ports boom leads to mobile harbour crane sales rise

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SHIP TO SHORE: Gottwald cranes work around the clock in at least 88 countries. The firm is over 100 years old and now part of the Demag group.

Order books full as German companies cash in on GCC port expansions.

Last year, crane manufacturer Liebherr set a new record by handing over 88 mobile harbour cranes. This represents a 26% increase over 2006 and the company is currently the market leader in the Middle East.

Both Liebherr and its main competitor Gottwald had a total of 88 rubber-tyre mobile harbour cranes in their reference lists for 2007. The difference is that Liebherr's figures are based on actual deliveries and Gottwald's on new order intake.

Oman

However, Gottwald recently scored a major deal to supply the port of Salah in Oman. The port ordered four Generation 5 G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Cranes for its container terminal as part of its port expansion programme.

The first two units will be delivered at the end of June 2008, and the remaining two at the end of July 2008. With lifting capacities of up to 100 tonnes each and equipped with twinlift spreaders, the cranes will be used for serving container ships up to the Post-Panamax class.

Founded over 100 years ago, Gottwald is part of the Demag cranes group, while Liebherr is still in private hands.

Liebherr delivered 12 mobile harbour cranes around the GCC in 2007, matching its 2006 level. Best performing countries in this region were Syria with four units, the UAE with three units and on third place Kuwait with two machines.

The Middle East and the Indian subcontinent together reach third place in global mobile harbour crane population. Europe ever since played the major role in the mobile harbour crane market, with over half of all units sold to European customers.

Sales in Europe, Liebherr's main market, reached 44 units, accounting for 50% of the company's mobile harbour crane business and for the first time the leading role was taken over from Gottwald making the LHM the top selling mobile harbour crane in the most important market.

The most important single markets in Europe were Spain with 14 cranes (16% of total number), followed by Turkey with nine cranes (10% of total number) and the UK, Italy and France with three cranes each (equivalent to 3% of total number in each case).

New generation

However a good year was also reported by Gottwald. The company sold more than 60 harbour cranes, 49 of which were the latest diesel/electric Generation 5 cranes - indicating that the new series has been well received by the market.

Also Gottwald's second business sector, which includes terminal automation and systems integration proved to be successful.

Also in Africa the result of the preceding year has been clearly exceeded. With 11 mobile harbour cranes sold to Tunisia (three units), Benin and Nigeria (two units each), Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Namibia (one unit each), it accounted for 13% of delivered machines.

In recent years mobile harbour cranes became increasingly popular and have established themselves not only as universal multipurpose equipment but also as an alternative to specialized equipment, such as container cranes as well as bulk gantry cranes and continuous ship unloaders for dedicated bulk handling.

Market figures prove that statement as the mobile harbour crane market could post a growth rate of over 25% the last year and over 50% during the last five years.

Reasons are quite diverse, but mainly this development is traced back to the fact that lifting capacities constantly increase and the extreme flexibility of mobile harbour cranes makes it a universal all-rounder, handling everything from containers to bulk goods, general cargo and even heavy lifts up to 208 tonnes.

These advantages in connection with a very attractive price range (from US $1.4-3.5m) compared to special equipment (container gantry cranes are situated in a range from US $2.8-6m), a high resale value, and of course proven handling performances and outstanding reliability contribute to the success of the mobile harbour crane concept as a whole.

However, time could be running out as busy ports in areas where labour is expensive are moving toward a fully automated model system.

In this system, gantry cranes which may or may not be fully automatic load autonomous guided vehicles - basically robotic straddle carriers which are controlled by a central computer. Cost holds it back, though.

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