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A Model 4 (G HMK 4406) Mobile Harbour Crane from Gemeentelijk Havenbedrijf hired to Riga Natie in the Port of Antwerp for handling steel. |
Düsseldorf, 23. Januar 2008 – The year 2007 was another very successful one for Gottwald Port Technology GmbH (Gottwald). Significant achievements and developments further strengthened the company’s position both as leader in Mobile Harbour Crane technology and as a pioneer in the field of automated port technology:
“We certainly have every reason to be proud of our achievements. The impressive results are evidence of the customer preference for our advanced technology in the entire field of port logistics,” says Dr Mathias Dobner, CEO of Gottwald. “A major driving force in the strong growth of recent years has been the dynamic change in cargo handling business, accompanied by increasing cargo volumes and ship sizes, obliging port and terminal operators to improve and expand their handling and storage capacities. And Gottwald is proving to be the company that is actively helping to shape the changing global handling business.”
The Harbour Crane sales figures for 2007 (including Mobile and Portal Harbour Cranes as well as
Floating Cranes) were the highest on record. Gottwald sold
96 Harbour Cranes, which represents a 17% increase over 2006 (82 units).
Within five years the figures have more than doubled, up 108.7% from
46 cranes in 2002.
Promising positive developments characterized business operations in new, growing and established markets. As in recent years, orders came from both existing and new customers.
Order intake was strong in all geographical regions. Apart from Europe, where the inflow of new contracts remained as strong as ever, Gottwald further strengthened its presence in several important markets.
In terms of figures the most important countries in Europe were the UK with eight cranes, Turkey with seven cranes and Belgium with six cranes.
On the international level Africa showed dynamic growth with 19 cranes. In Libya, two orders for 11 cranes (including eight HMK 170 E and three HMK 260 E cranes) marked an important step for Gottwald in its efforts to conquer new markets. Furthermore, Gottwald sold its first cranes to Angola and Benin (two units each). Three cranes went to Egypt and one to South Africa.
Another important market on the international level was Brazil, where Gottwald strengthened its position with orders for five cranes.
Apart from the market entries in Libya, Angola and Benin Gottwald continued to expand its worldwide presence with St. Vincent & the Grenadines coming on board. As a result, Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes are now present in no less than 86 countries.
The phasing out of the Generation 4 continued according to plan. The models
HMK 300 E, HMK 330 EG, HMK 360 E and HMK 360 EG as well as their HSK
and HPK counterparts (portal and barge mounted counterparts) were more and
more replaced by the three new Models 6, 7 and 8 of the new Generation 5,
officially launched in spring 2006. In addition, at the end of 2007, Gottwald
added the new Model 4 to its Generation 5 portfolio.
Of the 96 cranes sold in 2007, 63 were Generation 5 cranes, which represents 65.6% of order intake and reflects the high standard established by Gottwald.
Gottwald’s Generation 5 Model 6 – the successor of the HMK 300/330 – turned out to be the company’s new bestseller, with 49 units sold in 2007, accounting for 77.8% of the Generation 5 cranes sold and 51% of orders received in 2007. Thus the Model 6 in its numerous versatile variants seamlessly continued the success story of its Generation 4 predecessor.
Four-rope grab cranes for professional bulk handling, which clearly remains an increasingly important field of Gottwald’s strategic focus, accounted for 28.1% of orders (27 units). With three Portal Harbour Cranes (which use Mobile Harbour Crane technology from the slewing ring upwards) and five Floating Cranes (also based on Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane technology), Harbour Cranes derived from the Mobile Harbour Crane represented more than 8% of orders.
Gottwald is also reporting continuing success in the Floating Crane sector. Following the market launch and the first order in 2004, sales of Gottwald’s Floating Cranes have grown at a steady pace, with two units in 2005, four in 2006 and five units in 2007 – bringing the total number of Floating Cranes sold to date to a dozen. Of these, six units are Generation 5 cranes, including two cranes each of the Models 6, 7 and 8.
The orders received in 2007 include the third HPK 330 EG for St. James Stevedoring Co., L.L.C.
(St. James) on the lower Mississippi in the US, as well as two Generation 5 Model 6 G HPK 6400 B
cranes for another customer in the US (for reasons of commercial confidentiality it is not possible
to give further details at this time). In addition, Gottwald received the first Floating Crane
order from Brazil.
MMX Mineracao e Metálicos S.A. in the Port of Belem, a new customer to Gottwald, ordered two
G HPK 7400 B cranes with a 50-tonnes grab curve for transloading iron ore (destined for export)
mid-stream in the port area of Belem.
Gottwald Floating Cranes for Open-Sea Operation
Worth of special mention is also a
G HPK 8200 B crane, ordered by PT Puteri Borneo Company in 2006, which was commissioned
successfully in 2007. This Model 8 crane is used for open-sea transhipment of export coal from
barges to ocean-going vessels about 35 km off the coast of the Indonesian Kalimantan region. With
this order Gottwald’s Floating Crane technology successfully advances into new dimensions and areas
of applications. For the first time, a Gottwald Floating Crane provides proof of its suitability
for operation on the open sea, where wind forces of up to 6 Bft. and wave heights of up to 1.6m can
occur. The G HPK 8200 B for PT Puteri Borneo Company obtained Special Feature class “LA” in the
Lloyd’s Register Book. This classification confirms that the crane meets the highest demands in
terms of its overall mechanical and structural design and construction (e.g. steel structure,
machinery and electrical installations) and is thus compliant with Lloyd’s Register „Code for
Lifting Appliances in a Marine Environment“.
“Gottwald Floating Cranes, available as Harbour Pontoon Cranes or as Portal Harbour Cranes on barge are among our most successful product launches,” says Di Lisa. “A smart solution with many fields of applications. They are deployed in mid-stream operation in ports and sheltered waters, on rivers and in coastal waters and even on the open sea; for ship-to-ship as well as ship-to-shore handling; for import and export related operations.” And though, up to now, all Gottwald Floating Cranes have been intended for professional bulk handling, they are, of course, also suitable for container and general cargo handling. “Thanks to their autonomy, low specific investment costs and short delivery lead times, there is a multitude of possibilities opening up, especially when thinking of high quay costs or high costs for appropriate quay infrastructures,” says Di Lisa.
Also Gottwald’s second business sector, which includes terminal automation and systems integration with a large portfolio of hardware and software as well as consulting services, has been progressing dynamically.
This progress is reflected in a follow-up contract for the newly developed Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC) for the Antwerp Gateway Terminal (Belgium) operated by a consortium headed by DP World. Following the excellent results achieved with the first four ASC cranes for two stack modules, which were handed over to the customer officially in June 2007 after thorough testing under real-life terminal conditions, Gottwald received an order for a further 10 ASC cranes of the same design for five stack modules. The cranes are scheduled to start commercial operation by the end of 2008. The Antwerp Gateway intends to gradually change the container stack operation from straddle carriers to ASCs and to implement Gottwald ASCs in the upcoming terminal expansion. Naturally, the ASCs also employ the stack management software (ASC-MS) developed in-house at Gottwald.
“We’re pleased to be continuing our long relationship with Antwerp Gateway, a high-performance terminal,” says Dobner. “This follow-up order will serve as an important reference and demonstrates the suitability of our fully new concept which incorporates a number of groundbreaking features, such as the ‘twin ASC’ design which allows terminal operators to save a significant amount (up to 18%) of space compared to other well-known configurations, and the rigid beam, just to mention two examples.”
In addition, Gottwald and its subsidiary TBA, Delft, The Netherlands, steered a successful
course in the field of software solutions. Europe Container Terminals (ECT), member of the
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) Group, chose the proven technology and expertise of TBA and US-based
Navis for the terminal software systems to be implemented at its new, fully-automated Euromax
Terminal currently being built at Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte, The Netherlands. TBA is responsible for
supplying the management and navigation software for the AGVs, ASCs and quay cranes at Euromax. In
addition to providing software Gottwald was, in 2005, contracted to supply 96 economical and
environmental-friendly diesel-electric
E-AGVs, 48 units of which have in the meantime been supplied to Euromax.
The award of this contract was based on ECT’s excellent experience with the
Gottwald AGVs in use in its Delta Terminal.
Dobner sums up: "Over the years we have accumulated a lot of know-how in the field of automated
terminal systems. After having successfully developed solutions for automated container transport
using AGVs, we are following up our success story seamlessly with Automated Stacking Cranes.
Terminal planning, hardware, software, services: Gottwald supplies the entire portfolio from a
single source – we are now the only supplier to actually be able to supply an automated system from
A to Z.
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