Five cranes for Chile and Colombia

Gottwald Port Technology GmbH (Gottwald) continues to expand its successful Latin American business.

The orders in recent months for a total of five G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Cranes, a Model 6 variant, for three Chilean and two Colombian ports clearly show that, once again, there is strong demand for Gottwald's latest best-selling machines.

The buyers are both existing and new customers of Gottwald and they use these Model 6 variants for handling containers, general cargo and bulk materials. The G HMK 6407 has a lifting capacity of up to 100 tonnes and a working radius of up to 51 metres. As a result, it is ideally suited to the high-performance handling of goods of all kinds alongside vessels up to Post Panamax class.

“Our business in Latin America has been developing very satisfactorily and this has strengthened our market position in this region,” emphasised Andreas Moeller, Deputy Sales Director at Gottwald. “These, the latest orders from both new and established customers, and the fact that the applications are so diverse, serve to confirm that the Generation 5 machines we launched in 2006 do, indeed, meet the increasing requirements of terminal operators. And Model 6, in particular, which we are now also offering as a

G HMK 6507 with lifting capacities of up to 120 tonnes, is evidently the answer to Latin America's needs.”

Back in the first quarter of 2008, Gottwald received two orders for G HMK 6407 cranes from Mexico, which means that the total number of cranes sold to Latin American customers as at the end of June 2008 amounts to seven.

Contecar, a terminal operator in Cartagena, Colombia, where two Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes are already in use, put its first G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Crane into operation in June 2008, bringing its total of Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes to three. All in all, this means there are no less than five Gottwald cranes working at the Port of Cartagena. The new G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Crane, a Generation 5 model, is mainly involved in handling bulk materials using a motor grab alongside Panamax vessels.

With its G HMK 6407, Gottwald has been able to gain a new Colombian customer, the relatively "young" Palermo Sociedad Portuaria S.A. terminal operator. At the new river port of Palermo, the G HMK 6407 is used as a universal machine for handling general cargo and containers. The new Model 6 crane was handed over at the beginning of September 2008.

Last year, Gottwald was also able to sell a Model 6 crane to a new customer in Colombia. Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Barranquilla S.A. (SPRB) opted for two G HMK 6407 cranes in connection with the expansion of its crane fleet. In winning this order, Gottwald was able to keep an alternative supplier already established at the Port of Barranquilla at bay.

With the two latest orders, the total number of cranes supplied by Gottwald to Colombia has increased to nine.

Chile: Three G HMK 6407 cranes for container handling

In recent months, three new G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Cranes have been put into service in Chile. All three cranes are involved in handling containers alongside vessels up to Panamax class. The three buyers are all existing Gottwald customers. With the two cranes sold to Chile in 2007, this brings the total number of Gottwald cranes in operation in the country to 18.

In ordering its G HMK 6407, Antofagasta Terminal Internacional (ATI), a terminal operator at the Port of Antofagasta, has placed its first ever order for a new crane from Gottwald. The new crane started work on a commercial basis in August 2008. “Our excellent experience with our used cranes from Gottwald was decisive when it came to placing the present order,” explained Gaston Bastias, General Manager of ATI. “We are absolutely convinced that Gottwald's Generation 5 cranes provide excellent technology, comprehensive know-how, high levels of reliability and excellent service and that this will provide us with the competitive edge in container handling.”

Gottwald's long-term customer, San Vicente Terminal Internacional (SVTI), which ordered its first G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Crane in 2007, decided to opt for this crane variant again. This new crane began operation at the Port of San Vicente in September 2008. Last year, Gottwald succeeded in selling its Generation 5 technology to the SVTI Terminal, where a number of Generation 4 HMK 280 E Mobile Harbour Cranes have been in use for some years, after the customer had tried a machine made by a different company.

Terminal Pacifico Sur Valparaiso, also one of Gottwald's long-term customers, ordered its first G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Crane, which began operation at the end of August 2008.

Source: Transportweekly