The more the merrier

The market for mobile harbour cranes (MHCs) and derivative cranes (on rail portals or mounted on pontoons) has arguably never been as competitive as it is today, and more is set to come. This is due to both new entrants in the MHC field and technical innovations from the hydraulic boom/stick crane sector, challenging parts of the market normally associated with ‘classic’ rope hoist MHCs.

Going back around 10 years, there were four established rope hoist MHC suppliers known to Bulk Materials International, with Reggiane and Italgru as the third and fourth players. Latterly, there have been three, with Gottwald and Liebherr leading the field, and with Italgru as a ‘third force’ occupying a niche position. Now, we must think in terms of five suppliers in the classic MHC market.

Chinese challenge

The ‘fourth company’ is China’s Nantong Rainbow Heavy Industries Co Ltd, which markets its MHCs (and rail portal variants) under the Genma brand name. This line of cranes is outwith Rainbow’s strategic agreement with Cargotec for Kalmar port cranes, and is developed, sold and marketed separately. Rainbow also offers its own gantry grab unloaders and dedusting hoppers, along with continuous bulk handling products – scraper and bucket type shipunloaders and mobile ship loaders.

Genma recently reported a new order from J M Baxi group in India to supply three of its model GHC100 MHCs for operation in Paradip port, where they will be operated by J M Baxi affiliate Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt Ltd. This facility can work vessels up to 125,000 dwt, and handles a range of breakbulk and bulk cargoes, including steel, aluminium block, chemical fertiliser, grain, sugar, and so on. The GHC100 design has a maximum hook load of 100t out to 20m, and outreach is from 10m to 48m.

According to Genma’s marketing manager, Crystal Pan, the order followed an open tender including “some top players in this field”. She says Genma won the order after performance checks by the customer and site visits to existing customer operations. Two GHC100s were earlier delivered to Myanmar Industrial Port in Yangon, Myanmar.

With the Baxi order, Genma will increase its references to nine cranes, ranging in capacity from 63t to 200t. As a newcomer to the market, Genma is only just starting to make an impact. However, given how Chinese companies have risen to prominence in other port crane fields, its presence gives the MHC sector, traditionally dominated by Europe-based companies, a completely new dynamic, and it will thus be interesting to see how the market evolves in the next few years.

Marketing from Shanghai and with manufacturing, technology and R&D activities based in Nantong, Genma also has sales and service points in Singapore, India and Canada, along with various agents in Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

The ‘fifth supplier’ in the classic MHC market looks set to be Sennebogen. The German crane maker already offers rope-driven MHCs, but the jib is low pivot, and the company is better-known for its range of hydraulic (or electric drive) boom/stick materials handlers and balance cranes, ranging from 11t to 300t self-weight.

In a dramatic departure, Sennebogen has come up with a new MHC model with a tower, high mount jib and cabin. This is designated 9300 E, which is being officially launched at this year’s Transport Logistic Fair in Munich (9-12 May). At the time of writing, no performance details have been released. However, Sennebogen said the crane will give “port operators a new, high-quality alternative for container handling on the market”.

It added: “Similarly, the mobile port crane will present an interesting solution for all ports that handle mass or general goods with ships up to around 100,000 dwt. With its large reach, feeder and standard ships are handled in container handling as well as Handysize ships for bulk cargo handling.” Sennebogen added that it is working on various projects for the new 9300E with ports in different regions.

Enter the 300

Unlike Genma and Sennebogen, the ‘sixth company’ has not entered the classic rope hoist MHC market, but instead is challenging it with bigger and bigger hydraulic (or electric) boom/stick cranes. Over the past few years, Finland-based Mantsinen Oy has developed a range of materials handlers purpose-built for and dedicated to port applications. These offer a range of capacities and outreaches to suit barge and ship handling applications, mostly with a fuel-saving hybrid drive fitted as standard, and they are all available on rubber tyres, rails or crawlers, or on a fixed platform.

For the past few years, the ‘flagship’ crane has been the Mantsinen 200 HybriLift. Just to give an example of its capabilities and versatility, this is used to handle coal and ore in Germany, scrap, steel  products and containers in Antwerp, while in the UK, ABP Garston now has a crane that can work vessels of more than 7,000 dwt with ease, and ABP can use it to work any vessel that can pass through the Garston sea lock (max. beam 19.2m, max. length 152m).

David Cooper of Cooper SH, Mantsinen’s British Isles sole distributor and service partner, said that the 200M HybriLift supplied (as part of an order worth £6M for various Mantsinen cranes for different ABP ports) is the only materials handler of ropeless, hydraulic design that satisfies ABP Garston’s requirement to handle a 25t load plus attachment weight from the far side of the widest vessel that can  call at the port. It thus combines the capacity of a traditional small/medium MHC with the fast cycling (precise spotting, positive digging) of a ropeless hydraulic crane.

The benchmark figure is 1,000 tph, but this is an allcargo average, and actual rates may be much higher according to the cargo being handled. The crane, installed and commissioned by Mantsinen and Cooper SH, is supplied with two 10 m3 clamshell buckets, one 40t capacity coil clamp and one 50t capacity anchor hook, all of Mantsinen’s own design, along with Mantsinen’s “quick-hitch” MC720 rotator, which enables attachments to be changed in around 2 minutes.

A major thrust

In its latest development, however, Mantsinen has broken its own record by launching the 300, and is thus pushing the faster and more precise hydraulic jib/stick crane concept even further into the size class of traditional rope cranes. Its “positive digging” capabilities will enable “the fastest work cycle on the market and the best productivity in its size class”, said marketing director Mia Mantsinen.

The Mantsinen 300 is designed to meet the requirements of moving bulk cargo on Panamax class ships, but it can also handle heavy general cargo and containers. For example, the crane is able to move a full 40ft container around 48m without having to change position.

A next-generation or “Mark 2” HybriLift energy recovery system has been developed and patented for the Mantsinen 300. The system is said to improve energy efficiency further than ever before, even in large cranes.

The Mantsinen 300 is available with a diesel engine (and HybriLift) or an electric motor. Again, the undercarriage can be chosen and optimised according to the client’s needs. The options include undercarriages with tracks, rubber tyres, rails or a fixed platform. Mantsinen designs and manufactures its own attachments, which it says are optimised for all kinds of uses and for any machine type.

The first two Mantsinen 300s will be delivered in the summer of 2017 to customers in Ghent and Antwerp in Belgium. Both handlers will move different kinds of bulk materials on Panamax class ships. They are likely to be rubber-tyred cranes (‘M’ suffix). Certainly in Antwerp, the busy crane rental market lends itself to mobility, as the cranes can be transferred relatively easily from one customer to another.

The Mantsinen 300 HybriLift has a self-weight of 320-400t according to undercarriage type. Maximum reach is 38m, and it is fitted with a 565 kW diesel engine (400 kW HybriLift as standard) or 355 kW electric motor.

As stated, the 300 encroaches still deeper into classic rope hoist MHC territory. It will be marketed as “the crane with the capacity of an MHC and the cycle time of a materials handler”, combining the benefits of both crane concepts in a single machine.

Of course, the established MHC suppliers are not ‘standing still’. The Terex MHPS business, acquired by Konecranes at the start of this year, includes all Gottwald harbour cranes (but not materials handlers from Terex Fuchs, which was never a part of MHPS). 

Recognising the inherent strengths based on an engineering-led approach similar to its own, Konecranes is likely to retain indefinitely the Gottwald brand name. Terex saw it as a “transitionary” brand, through “TerexGottwald”. 

Recent orders and deliveries (some while still part of Terex MHPS) include the commissioning of a fourth four-rope G HMK 6407 B (51m outreach, 50t grab curve and max. hook lift of 100t) for Spain’s multi-ports and multibulks handling specialist and long-standing customer (since 1997) Ership SA, following three commissioned a year earlier, in December 2015. The cranes were fully assembled in Antwerp and then shipped erect to Spain.

The first ‘G5’ Gottwald MHC is due to be supplied shortly to Japan, with the delivery of a Gottwald Model 2 G HMK 2204 MHC in tworope variant, via Chikuho Seisakusho Co Ltd, to the Port of Otake on the Seto inland sea. It will handle mainly containers and general cargo, and, for this purpose, has been adapted to Japanese requirements with a maximum lifting capacity of 62t, an outreach of up to 40m and a maximum lifting speed of 85m/min. It is equipped with a second, specially developed load display in order to meet Japanese safe load indicator regulations. In the past 13 years, nine G4 HMK 170E
cranes, the predecessor of the Model 2, have gone to Japan, and they are all still in service.

Gijón job

Elsewhere in Spain, Gottwald recently supplied a four-rope G HSK (rail portalmounted) crane to EBHISA in Gijón. This was a replacement for a gantry grab unloader that had been damaged beyond repair by a storm, and, in the interim, EBHISA had been renting an MHC from another local operator. 

The gantry grab unloader had an integral hopper, which, of course, is not possible with a single jib slewing crane, and EBHISA also ordered a railtravelling dedusting hopper from Spain’s Talleres Silva SA.