The 1,000th Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane christened “Henry Bolckow” during the inauguration ceremony.
Düsseldorf (Germany), 18 May 2006 – Gottwald Port Technology GmbH, the inventor of the Mobile Harbour Crane and the technological pacesetter in this field, has reached an important milestone: Gottwald has sold its 1,000th Mobile Harbour Crane in the 100th year of its history, which also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Mobile Harbour Crane. The jubilee crane, an HMK 330 EG, is operated by PD Teesport, one of the top three UK ports, located on the River Tees in Middlesbrough on the North East Coast of England, and a long-standing customer of Gottwald.
The success story of a product, having meanwhile become a major factor in ports around the world and found in more than 80 countries, began exactly 50 years ago. In 1956, Gottwald, that had started its business with steam-operated cranes in 1906, launched its revolutionary invention onto the market: a Mobile Harbour Crane, mounted on a rubber-tyred chassis and adapted specifically to the requirements of cargo handling in ports. Since then, the Mobile Harbour Crane range has seen developments in leaps and bounds. Today, in response to the changing demands of terminal operators, resulting from increasing cargo volumes and a growing international trade, Gottwald not only builds larger cranes with greater capacities of up to 200 tonnes and improved handling rates, but also supplies the Mobile Harbour Crane as professional bulk handling equipment. More recently the company developed Portal Harbour Cranes and Harbour Pontoon Cranes based on Mobile Harbour Crane technology.
Over the years, all Gottwald Harbour Crane types have established themselves as a viable and attractive option for customers all over the world seeking reliable, flexible and economic cargo-handling solutions. Especially in recent years, the Mobile Harbour Crane market has experienced strong growth. In the past three years, Gottwald has sold more than 200 units. With lifting capacities of up to 200 tonnes and radii of up to 56 m, Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes have become synonymous with universal and specialised cargo-handling equipment and are popular with terminal operators thanks to their flexibility, versatility, efficiency, high lifting capacities and handling rates, low specific investment costs, service-friendly design, short delivery lead times and high resale values.
1,000 cranes supplied worldwide: Gottwald achieved this milestone through continuous innovation and anticipating future developments in terminal operation. However, at the heart of this success is Gottwald's ability to listen to its customers and to produce products to meet their needs. Close customer relationships are an integral part of Gottwald Port Technology’s philosophy. One of these long-standing customers is PD Teesport who will be operating the 1,000th Gottwald crane.
To celebrate the 1,000th Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane, PD Teesport and Gottwald Port Technology held a dedication ceremony at Teesport Estate on 18 May 2006. Well over 100 guests, including representatives from PD Teesport and Gottwald, local officials, terminal operators from the UK as well as representatives from the media attended the event on the River Tees in Middlesbrough, UK.
“It is a great pleasure to be here today at Teesport to celebrate the inauguration of Gottwald’s 1,000th Mobile Harbour Crane. This is a unique event in Gottwald’s history,” said Dr. Mathias Dobner, CTO of Gottwald Port Technology GmbH, who made a speech during the ceremony. “This is not simply a new crane being commissioned. As you may be aware, we are not only proudly celebrating the 1,000th Gottwald crane this year. This crane stands for 50 years of Mobile Harbour Cranes and a hundred years of company history, years of customer orientated product innovation, and it reflects our position as pacesetter in the cargo-handling business with state-of-the-art products for a variety of cargo handling applications.” Dr. Dobner warmly thanked PD Teesport for their excellent cooperation. “Our customers are the major pillar of our success and we are grateful to PD Teesport for having placed their confidence in us throughout the years. Our long-standing relationship is of great importance to us.”
On the occasion of the inauguration ceremony, a flag bearing “1,000th Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane” was hoisted. In addition, to mark this milestone day, the crane was christened, “Henry Bolckow”, after the German who came to Teesside in 1832 and set up in the iron business with his partner John Vaughan in Middlesbrough, giving the former small shipping town an alternative industry to that of exporting coal.
The name for the crane was suggested by PD Teesports’ most important customer, Corus, one of the world's leading metal manufacturers. Corus produces steel products including slabs in their Teesside plant in Middlesbrough. These steel slabs are shipped from Teesport and are handled by the new “Henry Bolckow” Gottwald crane as well as a second Gottwald HMK 330 EG operating since 2005 at PD Teesport called “John Vaughan".
“It is a great honour for PD Teesport to be operating the 1,000th Gottwald Harbour Crane”, said David Robinson, Managing Director of PD Teesport, in his speech at the ceremony. He also emphasised the close ties that have existed for more than ten years between Gottwald and PD Teesport. In 1993, PD Teesport bought the first Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane and discovered the advantage of Gottwald’s handling equipment with the diesel-electric drive. In total, including the new crane, Gottwald has supplied seven Mobile Harbour Cranes to PD Teesport over the course of the years. “We are one of the biggest ports in the UK and our aim is further growth. We need strong partners and in Gottwald we have found such a partner that contributes enormously to the success of our port,” said Robinson. “Our decision in favour of an additional Gottwald crane was not only based on our excellent experience with our existing Gottwald cranes, but also on the state-of-the-art technology that provides reliable every day operation, Gottwald’s exemplary service standards, their commitment to exceeding customer expectations and ability to respond to customer needs are second to none.”
High handling rates, long lifetime and extraordinary versatility were the main reasons for PD Teesport choosing the HMK 330 EG, a four-rope crane version of Gottwald’s best-seller, the HMK 300 E. To handle the steel slabs from Corus, the HMK 330 EG is equipped with chains and lifting beams. As a special feature for PD Teesport, the crane has been built to handle loads up to 63 tonnes at a radius of 35 m and is therefore able to lift two steel slabs, weighing 30 tonnes each, at once. In addition, the distance between the crane's axles has been adapted to local quay specifications.
The popularity of the diesel-electrically driven HMK 330 EG Mobile Harbour Crane is reflected in the sales figures. Since the market launch in 2001, Gottwald has sold 42 HMK 330 EG cranes.
PD Teesport, part of PD Ports, is one of the top three UK ports, operating major cargo handling facilities on the River Tees and at Hartlepool. Located on the North East coast of England, the deep-water ports of Tees and Hartlepool provide lock-free access to 6,000 vessels each year and handle some 55 million tonnes of cargo per annum, including containers, bulk, cars, oil and gas. Destinations served include Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and the USA. The River Tees is at the heart of an area strongly associated with petrochemicals, manufacturing and engineering. The area is home to many companies serving these industries as well as offshore and other river related activities. The Tees enjoys close proximity to the national motorway network. Terminals at Teesport and Hartlepool are directly connected to the UK rail system serving several inland locations daily, thereby ensuring easy access to markets.
Gottwald Port Technology GmbH
Postfach 18 03 43
40570 Düsseldorf, Germany
Peter Klein
Tel.: +49 (0)211 7102-3355
Fax: +49 (0)211 7102-3660
Mobile: +49 (0)173 722 10 74
peter.klein@gottwald.com
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