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Media
Gottwald Port Technology GmbH (Gottwald), a subsidiary of Demag Cranes AG, can look back on a successful 2008 despite the current downturn in the global economic environment.
“In view of the overall difficult economic situation, we can be satisfied with our performance in 2008, said Dr. Robert Wassmer, Gottwald’s CEO. In the 2008 calendar year, we were able to sell 92 Harbour Cranes, including Mobile Harbour Cranes and such derivatives as Portal Harbour and Floating Cranes. As a result, we were very close to the excellent result achieved in 2007, when we sold 96 machines. All this is quite pleasing but we cannot ignore the fact that we will also notice the economic crisis which is expected to deepen further in 2009 and also poses challenges for Gottwald. However, thanks to its innovative market approach and new developments of versatile technology, Gottwald sees itself as being well positioned to provide optimum solutions for customer-specific requirements.
Mobile harbour crane Market review
As in recent years, order intake was received from all geographical regions. With market entries in Georgia and Estonia (Europe), Oman (Middle East), Guinea (Africa) as well as Paraguay and Suriname (Latin America), Gottwald continued to expand its worldwide presence. As of 31 December 2008, Gottwald has been able to increase the number of countries to which Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes have been sold by six to more than 90.
In addition to winning new customers, Gottwald again received a number of orders from existing customers. Without doubt, our customers are satisfied and know that they can rely on our proven technology," said Giuseppe Di Lisa, Sales Director at Gottwald, And these follow-up orders in turn serve as an excellent reference to attract new customers. With some 1,300 cranes sold globally, Gottwald successfully maintains its position as worldwide leader in Mobile Harbour Cranes.
Of the 92 cranes sold in 2008, 34 were ordered for European terminals, representing 36.9% of order intake. In terms of sales figures, the most important countries in Europe were Belgium with 10 cranes, Turkey with 4 cranes and Sweden with 3 cranes.
With an order from Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG (Port of Kiel, Germany) for a 140-tonne G HMK 7608 Mobile Harbour Crane, a Generation 5, Model 7 variant, Gottwald further strengthened its position in its home market. The crane is scheduled to go into commercial operation at the end of April 2009 and will handle a broad range of cargo including containers, general and project cargo. It will be the third Gottwald Generation 5 crane in Germany. In 2006, C. Steinweg (Süd-West-Terminal) GmbH & Co. KG in the Port of Hamburg decided to invest in a Gottwald G HMK 7608, with lifting capacities of up to 150 tonnes, for handling mainly project cargo. Since 2007, the Ems Ports Agency and Stevedoring Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG (EPAS) in the Port of Emden has been operating a G HMK 6407 Mobile Harbour Crane, a variant of Model 6. This crane is used mainly for handling wind turbine components.
Outside Europe, sales in Africa were particularly satisfactory with 16 cranes (17.4% of orders) sold: Tanzania (4 units), Senegal (3 units), Mozambique (3 units), the Ivory Coast (3 units), Guinea (2 units) and Tunisia (1 unit).
Latin America also continued to show dynamic growth with 13 cranes (14.1% of orders) sold: Chile (4 units), Brazil (3 units), Colombia (2 units), Mexico (2 units), Suriname (1 unit) and Paraguay (1 unit). Including 5 cranes for USA, the Americas accounted for 19.6% of orders (18 units).
Further important markets at an international level were Asia and the Middle East. With orders for a total of 24 cranes for Korea (6 units), India (4 units), Japan (2 units), the Asian part of Russia (2 units), Indonesia (1 unit) and Thailand (1 unit) as well as Oman (4 units), Saudi Arabia (3 units) and the United Arab Emirates (1 unit), both markets together accounted for 26.1% of orders.
Mobile harbour crane product review
All types of Harbour Cranes, on tyres, rails and barges, contributed to the excellent result, from smaller ones such as the 63-tonne HMK 170 E to high-capacity cranes such as the
G HPK 8200 B Floating Crane for professional bulk handling, reflecting again Gottwald’s capability of meeting the challenges of such diverse fields of application.
Model 6 – Gottwald’s new bestseller
Gottwald’s Generation 5, Model 6, the company’s new bestseller, accounted for 51.1% of orders with 47 units sold, including thirty-five G HMK 6407 cranes, eight G HMK 6407 B four-rope grab cranes and two G HPK 6400 B Floating Cranes. In addition, Gottwald sold two G HMK 6507 cranes with lifting capacities of up to 120 tonnes, the latest addition to the Model 6 series.
Four-rope grab cranes for professional bulk handling
Four-rope grab cranes for professional bulk handling accounted for 20.7% of orders with 19 units sold. These orders are again clear recognition of our Mobile Harbour Crane technology as fully accepted bulk handling equipment for professional bulk operators, said Di Lisa. To date, Gottwald has sold 230 four-rope grab cranes to customers worldwide.
Harbour cranes derived from the mobile harbour crane
Harbour Cranes derived from the Mobile Harbour Crane represented 4.3% of orders, with 4 units sold, made up of 1 Portal Harbour Crane (combining Mobile Harbour Crane technology with a rail-mounted portal) and 3 Floating Cranes (Mobile Harbour Crane technology on barges). With the award of these 3 additional Floating Crane orders, the total number of Floating Cranes sold to date has increased to 15 units within only four years of the market launch in 2004.
Associated Terminals LLC (Louisiana, USA) ordered one G HPK 6400 B for bulk handling between ocean-going vessels and river barges on the Mississippi. The company commissioned its first Gottwald Floating Crane, an HPK 330 EG, a Generation 4 machine, in 2006.
Another G HPK 6400 B for use on the Mississippi was ordered by Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) for its wholly-owned subsidiary American River Transportation Company (ARTCO). It was only in 2007 that ADM ordered two Generation 5, G HPK 6400 B Floating Cranes for ARTCO. Furthermore, at the beginning of 2008, ARTCO formed a stevedoring joint venture with St. James Stevedoring Co., L.L.C. (SJS), with whom Gottwald developed the first Floating Crane in 2004 and which company operates three HPK 330 EG Gottwald
Floating Cranes. This joint venture, which has brought together five Gottwald Floating Cranes under the name of St. James, again represented a true milestone for Gottwald, further strengthening the company’s reputation as a pioneer in innovative solutions based on Mobile Harbour Crane technology, said Di Lisa.
In addition, Gottwald won a new customer and sold its second Floating Crane for operation on the open sea. The G HPK 8200 B, ordered by PT Indo Straits in Indonesia is destined for transhipping coal from river barges to ocean-going vessels four kilometres (2.5 miles) off the Indonesian coast. As with the first crane for open-sea use, the one for PT Indo Straits has also been granted Lloyd's Register Certification, this time for significant wave heights of 2.5 m.
We are very pleased to note this positive development which clearly shows that our decision to combine our proven Mobile Harbour Crane technology with floating barges was absolutely right," stated Dr. Robert Wassmer. Floating cranes are currently experiencing a renaissance. They have short delivery lead-times, especially as they are based on the modular Mobile Harbour Cranes, make additional quay space unnecessary and neatly navigate around the entire problem of approvals procedures. And, in view of the long-term increases in the volumes of cargoes being shipped, they are a highly attractive way of supplementing land-based handling machines.
Wide span gantries for intermodal applications
In November 2008, Gottwald received a new order from Swissterminal AG for a Wide Span Gantry Crane (WSG) which is to be used in the terminal in Frenkendorf, Switzerland, for transloading cargo between road and rail.
Green developments gain more importance
In line with its ecological awareness, Gottwald continued to work on intelligent solutions to improve energy efficiency, optimise the use of terminal space and reduce or even prevent emissions of all kinds. Environmental responsibility is one of Gottwald’s core values, said Wassmer. "And Gottwald did not only start to respond to the challenges posed by the environmental concerns faced by ports and terminals yesterday. The company has been actively involved in defining environmentally-compatible ports for some time. For example by consistently using environmentally-compatible electric drive systems, and developing automated, future orientated technologies, such as the new Lift AGVs or the new ASC concept. "However said Wassmer, sustainable developments are not an overnight product, but rather a question of long-term, continuous technological strategies. That’s why a large amount of our R & D budget will be spent on these matters in future.
Outlook
In the years to come, in keeping with its traditions, Gottwald intends to emphasise its position as a provider of solutions for complex problems and, in this vein, sharpen up its profile. In concrete terms, this means that we will offer our services as a provider of integrated systems and discussion partner for highly differentiated scenarios, and that we want to better appreciate our customers' economic restraints for new investments and provide them with solutions made up of units from our modular range of proven products; said Wassmer.
Source: Transport Weekly
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