Over the course of 2010, the industry of MHC manufacture provided a number of interesting stories as a depreciated market started to pick up. “The economic and financial crisis had a very negative impact on our business, dropping our order intake by over 50% at the peak of the crisis. The customers, however, have primarily put off projects instead of cancelling them,” Peter Klein, of Demag Cranes subsidiary Gottwald, tells World Port Development . “Over the last quarters we have seen a significant improvement in our order intake, based on a higher demand for mobile harbour cranes,” he continues. “Due to the economic upswing, customers have restarted their investment programmes which has led to replacement investments in particular.” Liebherr has also noted a pleasing upturn in 2010, notching good order levels that promise much for the year ahead. “At the moment it seems the economic upward trend is stable,” says Joachim Dobler, marketing spokesman for Liebherr’s mobile harbour crane and reachstacker operations. “If this tendency lasts, the investment climate also for giant equipment like mobile harbour cranes is brightening up.”
A driving force
Among the technological developments noted within the market over the year was Mantsinen’s new generation models of diesel or electric-powered
HybriLift cranes. The Finnish manufacturer has placed green awareness – and its related cost-saving benefits for the customer – at the top of its development agenda. The new Mantsinen 120 R HybriLift, Mantsinen 160 ES HybriLift and
Mantsinen 200 R HybriLift Heavy Lift mobile hydraulic cranes are already in production, ready to be delivered to the customers. All models are based on Mantsinen own-build HybriLift base machines. Mantsinen states that the 200 R HybriLift takes more load while using less energy. It has a maximum horizontal reach of 26–34 meters and a maximum lifting capacity of 40 tonnes from 18 meters to boost productivity. This higher lifting capacity enables the 200 R HybriLift to handle steel coils of a weight of up to 35 tonnes with reduced engine output, optimising efficient loading and unloading and lowering operating costs. The crane operates with a C18, Tier3 Caterpillar engine, with a power of 522 kw and 1,800 rpm. In terms of maintenance, the crane offers access to all service points of the engine and pumps from inside the enclosed upper structure, which is accessible via a sliding door. The pumps and engine are stored in separate compartments and there is a thermostat-controlled cooling fan in the engine compartment. The company states that functionality is also a key factor for the HybriLift range, which can be delivered in wheeled, crawler, rail or stationary applications. Dobler states that Liebherr’s focus of improvements has been “towards environmental issues and even more flexibility in configuration to suit customers’ needs, as this is what market pressures demanded”. The main technological development for the company in 2010 was the unveiling of the energy-saving Pactronic hybrid drive system, which has initially been rolled out on the new LHM 550 – one of the major points of interest at the TOC Europe conference. The LHM 550 is now available with two different boom lengths, giving a better ‘lifting coverage’ for the customer. With the standard 54-meter boom, the crane is more flexible in terms of application, making it “a universal all-rounder and key asset for handling everything, from containers to general cargo to bulk solids.” With the shorter, 48-meter boom, the LHM 550 turns into a specialised bulk handling machine. “Liebherr Pactronic is an impressive power booster. Hoisting as well as lowering speeds are increased substantially. Thus the crane’s efficiency reaches new levels with higher turnover figures (+30%). In addition, the crane’s fuel consumption is significantly reduced (-30%),” details Dobler. “This is achieved by fully utilising the reverse energy and surplus power within the system. Offering a unique combination of extremely low fuel consumption and supreme performance, Pactronic represents an essential milestone in Liebherr’s strategy on the way to genuine ultra-efficient, low-emission cargo handling.” Gottwald has placed a similar focus on providing MHC solutions that are both environmentally friendly and offer optimised efficiency. In March, the manufacturer introduced “the first-ever hybrid drive for mobile harbour cranes”, using advanced diesel generators in connection with dynamic brake resistors and short-term energy storage to achieve fuel savings in the double-digit percentage range. To emulate the energy-recovery that has been possible in electric drives for some time, Gottwald developed a hybrid drive for diesel-electric cranes that includes short-term energy storage for the recovered energy, which is then made available to the crane’s power system for the next work cycle. The conventional brake resistors – in which excess energy is otherwise lost when it is converted to heat – only come into play if the capacity of the energy storage system is exceeded. As well as fitting new cranes with the technology, Gottwald announced it would be offering existing owners of its mobile harbour cranes upgrades to environmentally friendly, cost cutting dynamic brake resistors and hybrid drives. Furthermore, Gottwald also introduced its new Generation 5 Model 3 to the market at TOC Europe – another major talking point at the conference and exhibition.
Tall Orders
At the time of publishing, manufacturers were not in a position to comprehensively divulge their order levels for the calendar year 2010. However, Mantsinen could inform WPD that it received orders for different models of hydraulic cranes as follows:
Mantsinen 50 RCT to a customer in Italy
Mantsinen 60 RHC to the Port of Vierow, Germany
Mantsinen 100 SHC to the Port of Posyet, Russia
Mantsinen 110 MCT to a customer in Norway
Mantsinen 120 ER HybriLift to a customer in Stockholm, Sweden
Mantsinen 120 R HybriLift to a customer in Finland
Mantsinen 160 ES HybriLift to a customer in Denmark
Mantsinen 200 R HybriLift to a customer in Ohio, USA
Among notable orders for Gottwald, the company recently secured sales for three cranes from customers in South Korea. Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co, Ltd has ordered two Generation 4 cranes (one HMK 170 E and one HMK 260 E), which are scheduled to start commercial operation in summer 2011 at the Port of Gunsan. These were the fourth and fifth Gottwald mobile harbour cranes ordered by Ssangyong. Dongbu Express has acquired its third Generation 5, Model 4, G HMK 4306 B four-rope grab crane for professional bulk handling. This is scheduled to start commercial operation at the beginning of 2011 at the Port of Dangjin. In August, the company announced that a third G HMK 6407 mobile harbour crane had gone into operation at Guayaquil Container and Multipurpose Terminals (GCMT), in Ecuador. This took the total number of Gottwald cranes sold to Ecuador since 1987 to eight. Other notable orders for Gottwald in the second half of the year came from Port Manatee, Florida, USA, for a G HMK 6407 mobile harbour crane for container handling; and one HMK 170 E mobile harbour crane for the river port of Astrakhan in Russia (the first-ever Gottwald crane to be used in a Russian river port). Furthermore, the company received an order from the India-based Archean Group for a G HPK 8200 B floating crane, a variant of Model 8 of Generation 5, derived from mobile harbour crane technology. This is the third floating crane used for coal handling off the Indonesian coast and is being used for open-sea trans-shipment of export coal from barges to ocean-going vessels off the coast in the province Bengkulu (also known as Southwest Sumatra). With this order, the total number of this crane type sold since the launch in 2004 has increased to 18. A further, notable project for Gottwald in 2010 was a performance trial with a Gottwald G HMK 6407 B mobile harbour crane in continuous-d
uty coal handling. This was successfully completed by Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), India. With an average capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes per hour, the four-rope grab crane unloaded an entire Panamax vessel carrying 62,324 tonnes of coal in only 61 hours, two minutes. Full details of Liebherr’s MHC order intake for 2010 will not be available until January 2011, but at the time of going to press, the company was in a position to report a total of 70 units. In terms of comparative year-on-year performance, the company sold a similar number of LHM units to what was notched in 2009, with the LHM 500 named ‘crane of the year’ at the recent, annual International Bulk Journal (IBJ) Awards. Since its market introduction in 2003, Liebherr has sold and delivered more than 150 units of the LHM 500 to customers in more than 40 different countries. Approximately half of these were delivered in a four-rope configuration for dedicated bulk handling.
Orders for Liebherr’s portal slewing (LPS) range of cranes in 2010 were also similar to a “highly satisfying” 2009 in which six LPS units were delivered. In 2010, five units were delivered – among these were two LPS 600 units to Adani Petronet Dahej Port in India and one LPS 500 to DP World, Antwerp. The LPS is an efficient combination of a space-saving portal (mounted on rails) and the proven mobile harbour crane concept. Particularly on narrow quays, individual portal solutions permit (railway) trains and (road) trucks to travel below the portal. Another notable factor in 2010 was the delivery of the first LFS 500 to Puerto Coronel in Chile. Liebherr fixed slewing cranes (LFS) are a combination of a mobile harbour crane upper carriage and a fixed pedestal. LFS cranes are designed to provide cost- and space-saving solutions for installation on quaysides and jetties, especially where room for manoeuvring is limited and low ground pressure is essential. Observing Liebherr’s orders by region, in 2010 the company recorded a 100% uptake in orders from customers in Latin America, increasing from five to 10 units. Orders from customers in Africa were down from 20 units to 10, however the company states that 2009 was an extraordinary year in terms of delivered machines (and as such the 2010 total is in-keeping with the five-year average of 12 units). The Far East is not typically a large market for Liebherr’s MHC deliveries, but 2010’s preliminary total of five units was a notable increase on the 2009 figure of two units.
DETERMINATION = PROMISE
The impressive development of the MHC market in 2010 promises much for the year ahead. With manufacturers determined to continue enhancing mobile harbour cranes ecologically, economically and ergonomically, with optimised efficiency and speedier operations, this will be a market that maintains our dedicated attention in 2011 and beyond.