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www.konecranes.com

A magazine about Lifting BusinessesTM

Editor’s noteKonecranes

March 2011

Siam Yamato Steel is busy making steel

at Maptaphut industrial estate in Rayong, Thailand. The cranes are in operation 24 hours a day, in three shifts.

hoursIf the following was a Hollywood movie, the text would say: based on a true story.

Story by Vesa Eskola Photos by Konecranes

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News around the world | March 2011

PMC–dedicated parts center

Konecranes expansion

Story by Patrick Humphreys Photos by Lucas Schifres

At 6 o’clock the sun is rising over Thailand. In the jungles of the north, macaque monkeys are starting to chatter. The beaches of the south will be silent for a few more hours. But in the Maptaphut industrial estate, they are already busy making steel.

ourists on their way from the airport to a tropical resort sometimes glimpse the distant silhouette of mills and cranes. Th ey are Th ailand’s industrial estates, most of them built from the late 1980s onwards.

Th is serene country is trying to catch up with the Asian Tiger economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan.

Th e industrial estates have a mighty appetite for cranes. Maptaphut is the location of the biggest

customer of Konecranes Th ailand, Siam Yamato Steel or SYS.

Hand in gloveSYS has been hand in glove with Konecranes

since 1994, when they built their fi rst mill for producing large steel sections. Th ey were so satisfi ed with the performance of those cranes that Konecranes was their fi rst choice when they decided to build a second factory, for medium sections.

“Quality was our number one consideration,” says Sittichai Keamanuchet, Senior Engineer in the SYS maintenance department. “And quality put Konecranes at the top of the list.”

Th ere are about 20 makes of crane available in Th ailand, but he soon whittled them down to a shortlist of fi ve, and then three. Only then did he look at factors other than quality.

“Which means price,” adds Project Engineer Wiroon Charoenwetchatham. “So I drew up three scenarios: the best budget, the best performance, and the best value.”

In the end, SYS opted for the best value, a mix of Konecranes for their top reliability and advanced technology together with some cheaper cranes from a competitor.

Th e cranes are now in operation 24 hours a day, in three shifts. Is SYS satisfi ed? Without a doubt!

“Of course you expect equipment to run smoothly when it’s new. Wear and dust begin to take their toll after 2–3 years. But I have to say that, so far, the cranes from Konecranes have operated even better than we expected.”

Rise of the tiger cubSiam Yamato Steel—SYS—was established in 1992. It is part of the large Siam Cement Group, which began in construction and diversifi ed into chemicals, paper, logistics and beyond.

It was a time when Th ailand was beginning to rise among the economies of Southeast Asia. In 1985–1996 Th ailand had the world’s highest growth rate, averaging 9.4% annually. Th e tiger cub economy, as it was called, was hit by the Asian fi nancial crisis of 1997, but is now expanding fast again.

Rapid development in Southeast Asia means a building boom. And construction needs steel. SYS makes steel sections at Maptaphut industrial estate, about 150 kilometers southeast of Bangkok.

SYS factory 2 at Maptaphut is one of the world’s most advanced steel minimills, converting steel scrap into structural products. Th e word “mini” is misleading. Th e main building is as big as an aircraft hangar, and its vast blue walls are visible for miles. Construction took two years.

Konecranes supplied ten of its cranes. Th ey include the powerful charging and ladle handling cranes, each with a capacity of 220 tons, and the 80-ton casting

crane. Temperatures soar in this area around the furnace. Reliability and safety are vital.

A steady stream of trucks keeps the mill supplied with scrap. Th ere are old washing machines, stoves, metal sheets and pipes, but most of the steel seems to be tangled cubes, made by compacting vehicles. Soon these old jalopies will be in their next incarnation as construction steel.

Some steel inputs are also imported, to keep up with demand. Th e mill’s annual output is 400,000

tons of beams, channels and angles. Th ey are sold to all comers, not just companies in the Siam Cement Group.

The five-to-one ratioThe business of Konecranes in Thailand is founded on service and equipment sales. Their customers trust them to maintain cranes from all manufacturers, not just their own.

Service contracts in turn tend to evolve into future sales, says Paiboon Kuhapermsub, Konecranes Operation Manager for Thailand.

“A contract worth a million can grow into a replacement, modification or expansion business worth several million. The foundation is the contract base. We look after our customers very carefully.”

Konecranes representatives meet the engineers and executives of SYS weekly, to discuss performance and how operations could be improved. When repairs are suddenly needed, the target response time is two hours.

To be even more responsible and to address customers’ concern even better, Konecranes is considering a local office in Maptaphut. They have also other customers there, including Siam United Steel, a neighbour of SYS. At present there are a few small Konecranes branches around the country, but the head office at Pinthong is closest to Maptaphut, and it’s more than an hour’s drive away.

Finding the right service staff is another challenge. “We expect our people to go out and get their hands dirty, alongside the customer,” says Operation Manager Paiboon Kuhapermsub.

“In plenty of other companies, engineering jobs are cleaner and more comfortable.”

Technology for simplicitySYS has other suggestions for future improvements. One of them is better training for controlling cranes.

“Konecranes control units have improved a lot in the past ten years, and they are now very sophisticated. Reliability and user comfort are much better, but there is a lot more to learn,” says Senior Engineer Sittichai Keamanuchet.

“Our operators go through a training course in a classroom. But it’s like driving a car. I can tell you how to do it in practice, but the first time you get behind the wheel, you’re going to make mistakes.”

Down in Singapore, T.K. Mak, General Manager of the Industrial Cranes business unit in Southeast Asia, answers with the same automobile imagery.

“I’m so used to my Toyota Corolla that I had trouble with an Audi Q7 rental when I went on holiday last year. I couldn’t even find the button to open the fuel tank!”

It all comes down to training, he believes. “Our cranes at SYS have most of our latest technology. They are PLC-based, with sway control, regenerative braking and a whole long list of safety features. It obviously takes a while to get used to all this.”

Konecranes emphasizes that better technology is actually the route towards simplicity of operation. “The older the cranes, the more skilled their operators had to be,” says Business Development Manager Jirapong Kocharak.

Thailand Operation Manager Paiboon Kuhapermsub points out that advanced cranes are ideal for the process industry, where maintenance is expensive but stoppages cost even more.

“Our technology can make troubleshooting much easier for companies like SYS. Finding and fixing faults is becoming faster and cheaper. As a result, operations are easier and safer.”

Value for moneyAren’t they worried that a company like SYS opted for a mix of cranes, instead of buying everything from Konecranes? What if the cranes are too expensive?

“We are not the cheapest on the market, we never will be, and we don’t want to be,” proclaims T.K. Mak. When you offer technology, comprehensive service, quality, reliability and productivity, the customer gets value for money.

“In the midst of a financial crisis, SYS bought our cranes. The non-critical cranes went to a competitor on price, but this was understandable. SYS had also used a mix of our small cranes and other makes in its previous factory.”

As general manager of industrial cranes in the region, he believes business prospects in Southeast Asia remain excellent. “Industrialization still has a long way to go,” he points out.

“Look at per capita consumption of steel and paper. We’re going to see a lot more growth in the future. As for political events, they make big global headlines, but the effect on business is limited.”

The key to success is a global network combined with local excellence, he says. “Diversification and decentralisation are the hallmark of Konecranes.”

Listening and learningOn the ground in Thailand, Paiboon Kuhapermsub sees another plus: the European management style.

He thinks it’s why Konecranes often wins orders and contracts in competition against Asian firms, who might be thought to have the advantage of operating on their home turf.

“I started my career with a Japanese corporation. They cared a lot about the long hours you worked, but less about what you actually achieved. Your main job was to listen to people who were higher up on the corporate chain.

“European companies expect you to have ideas and want you to express them. Part of the job of management is to listen and learn. This is still a bit unusual for Thailand, but it works.” ■

Innovation Manager

or years Konecranes has been renowned for its innovative products, technologies and service concepts. Being innovative is in our company DNA. Is that enough, or can we do more? Taking an analogy from sports, should we go for Citius, Altius and Fortius?*

Citius Renewal is constant. I prefer to talk about renewal instead of change, since change often has a negative ring to it. Th e speed of renewal is increasing.

Renewal is needed in all parts of business. We have started to renew our company-wide innovation framework and decision-making mechanisms in order to turn a larger number and a wider scope of ideas into innovations. Hopefully this renewal will allow us to be even faster.

Altius To be higher, in business terms, might mean that you are the one setting the future of the business. How do these business-changing innovations emerge? Th ey can emerge, for example, through newcomers in the industry. However, for Konecranes, being an established company in the business, renewing our business through a newcomer is not an option.

Radical innovation can, of course, also stem from an established player. In the end it’s the ability and willingness of the people in the organization to share their wild ideas as well as the ability of the people in the organization to foster potentially game-changing innovations, even though they might go completely against the existing business mechanisms.

FortiusIn an eff ort to keep ourselves clear forerunners in the lifting business, we are putting more and more eff ort on renewal and innovation capability, both internally and throughout the value chain. In addition to renewing our internal innovation capability we have invited our key suppliers to create and renew our shared businesses. Our combined force should be enough to power the big ship, wherever it may turn.

Wanna join the team?You, our dear customers are the source, reason and the jury of our renewal—you are at the center of our innovations. We are constantly trying to capture your current and future needs and off er our innovations for your benefi t. Hopefully we are doing the right things here.

As we are putting more eff ort in lifting our innovation capability and widening the scope of our innovation eff orts I would welcome you to contribute to this renewal. You can do this by sending a wish, idea or thought or just by giving feedback on how we’re doing in innovation to olli.kuismanen@konecranes.com. We’re open to innovation.

Lifting innovations

Our innovation culture is already at a good level, but we need to go even higher, lifting people.

AgendaKonecranes

Service life analyses and planning

Repairs and

improve-ments

Moderni-zations

Predictive Maintenance

New equipment

THE HIGHEST

VALUE:

Story by Kimmo Kiimalainen Photos by Erik-Jan Owerkerk

Aiming to become the landmark for the seaborne and offshore industry in the Southern Hemisphere, the Brazilian Estaleiro Atlântico Sul Shipyard depends on Konecranes state-of-the-art Goliath gantry crane design.

s the Brazilian Estaleiro Atlântico Sul (EAS) shipyard aims to become one of the most important global players in the business, it had to play big from the beginning.

After establishing the Estaleiro Atlântico Sul company in 2005, shipyard construction started in 2007. Th e complex was built from scratch in the Suape area south of the city of Recife in only few years. Th e shipyard started operations in mid-2008 and immediately began work on the fi rst vessel for Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, one of Atlântico Sul’s main customers.

But before the company could start building ships, it had to make several crucial decisions—one of which was to

order two gigantic Goliath gantry cranes equipped with Konecranes’ state-of-the-art lifting technology, both 100 meters high and with a span of 164 meters, lifting up to 1,500 tons each.

For Atlântico Sul—a top modern shipyard capable of processing some 160 thousand tons of steel per

year—the reason for playing this big was simply the need for speed. A large plant size allows for a substantial reduction in building times and generally more profi table operation as the ships are built from prefab hull segments called blocks. Th e larger the blocks are, the lesser their total number and

the faster a ship hull can be welded together in dry dock, put afl oat and moved along to the outfi tting quay.

But it isn’t quite as simple as this: larger prefabricated blocks called “megablocks” also require much more powerful crane design. A single block can easily weigh 1,000 tons or more. Th at’s why Atlântico Sul needed a special solution based on Konecranes’ heavy lifting technology: Goliath gantry cranes GGC1 and GGC2, which together have enough muscle to lift ship segments weighing up to 3,000 tons.

“For them, a 1,000 ton block is an easy task, like lifting a small rock,” EAS’ Heavy Lifting Coordinator Gustavo Padilha explains proudly.

“Goliath is the key”With both GGCs operational, advantages of the Goliath gantry crane design are very clearly recognizable for the shipyard management:

“Th e Goliath gantry crane is really the most important piece of equipment in our shipyard. To be able to launch a vessel quickly, we have to reduce the amount of welding done in the dry dock. And we can reach this speed advantage by using GGCs and moving megablocks. So the GGC is really the key to success here,” states Atlântico Sul’s Supply Manager James Murray.

Actually, the company counted on megablock technology from the beginning as it had very clear orders to put itself on the same level with Asian plants and in the forefront of the worldwide shipbuilding industry. Its shareholders wanted the Brazilian company to build a 4th generation state-of-the-art shipyard. Read: to look for and to implement only the best solutions.

“We heard that Konecranes had the best design, but still first considered three different suppliers. And then, in the end, Konecranes really proved to be the best choice,” Murray says.

Once the right solution was found, it was implemented under the leadership of Konecranes’ Project Manager Tuomo Lehtonen and Installation Manager Seppo Salonen.

According to Angelo Bellelis, CEO and President of Estaleiro Atlântico Sul, the company is very pleased with Konecranes’ performance and solutions in the GGC project and considers strongly giving it an even more central role in future projects.

“Konecranes, in our view, provides us with very, very high-level technology. It has a very good market share and so we thought it would be the right partner for this project. And it was. Next time we could even put the responsibility for the whole crane project on Konecranes as the main contractor,” Bellelis states.

New opportunitiesBuilding ships in booming Brazil is not only big business. It also causes fundamental changes in the country’s social and economic structures in the Suape area, strategically located close to the most important shipping routes northeast of Brazil.

Atlântico Sul provides the Suape area with thousands of jobs like those of the GGC ground personnel and new opportunities nobody would have expected to find here some ten years ago. And the company is serious about its social and environmental responsibility: in its own guidelines EAS emphasizes the importance of promoting prosperity in a sustainable manner for the benefit of the employees, the community, and the country.

Actually, the shipyard has already provided the area with so many new jobs, that it first had problems finding enough skilled laborers and had to send many workers to Korean

shipyards for training first. Wellington Silva

Ferreira, 27, working on the ground with the Goliath gantry cranes as one of Atlântico Sul’s 4,700 employees, is a former sugar cane field worker. Now, with his hands on a high- tech GGC, he clearly

acknowledges the changes the shipyard brought to the region and to him.

“It’s a great pleasure to work here. I never thought I’d ever get a chance to work with such a machine and technology,” he says.

For his team colleague Danny de Lima Monteiro, 21, the job in the shipyard is his first and a very important one, too.

“This job is just one great opportunity,” he says.

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“As high as it can get”But let’s see what’s going on high above the dry dock area in the Goliath gantry crane cockpit.

That’s where Crane Operator Moisés Batista Bezerra has been working already for three months, controlling the GGC with two joysticks, anemometers, plenty of panels and camera monitors showing the loads, wind speed and other factors that influence crane performance and load movements.

He got his operator licence after intense training and a month of physical and medical testing and has now reached a special kind of top position at the Atlântico Sul Shipyard.

“The company provided me with the opportunity to get higher and higher—and this job is certainly as high as one can get here, some 85 meters above the ground,” he laughs, praising the qualities of the Goliath at the same time.

“This is a great piece of equipment. The thing I especially like in the GGC, is its safety.”

He acknowledges the safety of the GGC designs is no coincidence, but the result of carefully studying the history of accidents in several Asian shipyards.

For Konecranes the deal for delivering the customer with the GGC design and almost 50 other overhead cranes of different capacities was also a very important deal. With the

shipbuilding and steel industry going strong in Brazil, the crane market is already booming here—an uncommon phenomenon in other parts of the world at the moment.

Actually Atlântico Sul is the first world-class shipyard built in Brazil after 18 years of recession; the undertaking is considered to be a landmark in the reactivation of the Brazilian shipbuilding industry.

For Konecranes this deal represents a strong opening in a booming market, where shipyard projects are further boosted by former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s directives. They prescribe at least 60 percent of Brazil’s oil exports to be delivered with Brazil-made vessels. This means Brazil is going to need three or four new shipyards in near future and this will create further demand for state-of-the-art shipyard lifting solutions—like those from Konecranes.

“Konecranes got this order because we were able to deliver our global shipyard crane know-how to the customer and combine it with local steel manufacturing,” Konecranes’ Sales Agent Antti Aitasalo sums up. ■

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Story by Marjatta Pietilä Illustration by Vesa Lehtimäki

Logistics has an important role as a part of supply chain management. It combines procurement, manufacturing and delivery. Invisible as it is to a customer, it is one of the major factors that keeps the customer satisfi ed.

Th e leading organization for logistics professionals, Th e Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) defi nes supply chain management as follows:

“Supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.”

“Within this framework the professionals in the fi eld see logistics as a part of the supply chain process that plans, implements and controls the effi cient, eff ective forward and reverse fl ow of storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin

and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements,” says Professor Pierre A. David, Ph.D., of Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio.

“This means that the focus of the logistics managers lies in activities related to the physical aspects of the movement of goods from suppliers to customer and between production phases. Their activities include transportation, packaging, warehousing, security, and handling of the goods that their firms purchase or sell. In their job they interact manufacturing and production, purchasing, procurement, marketing, inventory management, finance and customer service,” says David.

Professor David is one of the co-writers of International Logistics, The Management of International Trade Operations.

According to David, the difference between supply chain

management and logistics is that logistics focus more on tactical decisions and the company’s own processes whereas the scope of supply chain management is much broader and includes strategic issues and all the firm’s partners.

A clockwork processProfessor David says that for exporting or importing companies the objective in logistics is that the goods are transported by a forwarder or a carrier from the point of origin to the destination within a given schedule seamlessly and cost-effectively on only one Bill of Lading—with as little exporter or importer involvement as possible.

“In the USA the 3PL model is often used. 3PL means that a third-party logistics provider provides the customer a one-stop-shop logistics service for a part or all of its supply chain management functions. Th ey handle all the details of transportation as well as all the paper work in the international environment.”

“Depending on the country, there are however, some exceptions to this and exporter/importer involvement is needed, for example, for customs clearance. In the USA we also have issues regarding export compliance—there are a great number of regulations defi ning what can be exported to which countries or people,” David explains.

“Using the service of expert companies specialized in transportation of a certain type of project cargo is also cost-eff ective, because they have the skills, knowledge, technologies, techniques and networks to handle the transportation. If a carrier handles 500 specialized shipments a year they naturally have more experience than a manufacturer that may handle only 20 shipments. Yet, the word outsourcing has a bad connotation in the USA. It is understood to mean a lower level of quality and performance. Personally, I do not agree with this,” David says.

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But, according to David, using outside expert services does not mean that the exporting or importing companies would not need to have logistics expertise of their own. Th ey do not need to have as profound knowledge as the service provider but enough knowledge to interact with the carrier.

“Th ey do need to know the means of transportation, transportation processes, and how to acquire the service. Th ey also need to have some understanding of international contracts, terms of trade or Incoterms, import and export regulations, customs regulations, packaging demands, terms of payment and insurances,” David continues.

Lots of stumbling blocksDavid sees that all too often companies that rely on outside expertise neglect keeping up their own knowledge of logistics. For example, people are moved from domestic sales to logistics without training, and they make mistakes from pure lack of knowledge. When Incoterms 2010 is put into use on January 1, David expects that a lot of errors will be made.

In logistics customer satisfaction comes fi rst

“For the next 2–3 years we will see plenty of errors made on Incoterms. I believe they are better known in Europe, but not so well in the USA. One cannot ship FOB (Free on Board/Freight on Board) unless the shipment is made from a port. Th is kind of errors I see relatively regularly.”

“Another mistake also often made concerns CIF (cost, insurance and freight) and CIP (cost and insurance paid to) clauses. In both of them insurance is mentioned, but errors come from the fact that people do not realize that the insurance coverage is minimal. In the USA it is 500 USD per a container, and they do not understand the maximum liability of an international ocean carrier,” David explains.

“Another big change will take place when the Rotterdam rules come into force worldwide and in the USA. Th ey will increase the liability of carriers on the ocean and their responsibilities for a number of errors, from which they are currently shielded.”

Faraway location not a problemEven though Finland is located far from the main European hubs and Transatlantic and Transpacifi c trading lanes David does not believe that the location would create any problems for competitiveness in global business.

“Finnish companies have been very strong at exports and managed to keep themselves competitive. Because of their greater effi ciency, better technology and excellent design they have always overcome the disadvantages of the logistical challenges. Customers do not care whether the product may be diffi cult to ship as long as it is technically superior. For the manufacturer it is possible to level out transportation costs with well-designed logistics, and the right choice of transport for each transportation need,” David concludes. ■

Story by Emilie Torgemen Photos by Lucas Schifres

At 18 meters above ground, high up in his cab, Julien Tahno Say has a view over the Abidjan lagoon. He is one of fi fty operators in a bright red Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) on the Vridi terminal, the container port of the economic capital of the Ivory Coast.

he windows are perfectly clean and from the fully air conditioned cab, with the outside temperature at 32° C in the shade, the view is ideal. In front of him the blue of the sky melts into the blue of Billionaires Bay. Not yet the open sea, the self-sustaining port of Abidjan is

on the Ebrié lagoon. Ships have to use the Vridi canal to get to the Atlantic Ocean.

“I’ve been going up since June 7, after passing a series of exams that test our technical knowledge, reflexes and physical condition,” explains Julien Tahno Say, one of the elite operators.

The port, a great provider of jobs in Abidjan, is a clearly organized city within a city: quay one for fruits, quay two to ten for cereals and grains, ten to fourteen for bulk products etc. On the last five quays (twenty-one to twenty-five) is the Vridi Terminal, the container terminal managed by the

French Bolloré Group. The area is perfectly maintained with impeccable pavement, aligned containers and new cranes.

Twenty-four hours a day the cargo ships come and go with two peaks; the meeting at nine in the morning and four in the

afternoon. The morning meeting in Bolloré’s subsidiary Société d’Exploitation du Terminal de Vridi, SETV´s tower takes place with good humor, amidst some joking. The order of the ships’ dockings is established at each quay. It is a provisional order since docking is often changed during the day.

At four in the afternoon, the planning for the night shift is held in a small building on the site. Dozens of managers who meet here wear safety vests with mandatory reflecting bands. The security gates open by a finger print system. Two whiteboards list the number of machines (RTGs, reach stackers, etc.) that will be operating for each shift.

Rubber, magnesium, and cocoaToday, Julien Tahno Say is on the afternoon shift. He will be operating his crane from 2–9 p.m. The right control raises and lowers the spreader. The one of the left advances or reverses the new flamboyant crane. The work is demanding. RTG operators lean forward to see the containers underneath. Three operators work in relay on two RTGs. Each one spends two or three hours on the ground to guide the trucks that come for pick-ups.

When we visited the terminal, the transferred containers mostly contained rubber, magnesium, wood and cocoa (petite campagne) secondary agricultural season—the country is the world’s top producer of cocoa. The high season, when cashews and cocoa (grande campagne) principal agricultural season beans are harvested is over.

Say’s machine bears the number fourteen and is part of the second lot of RTGs delivered by Konecranes to the port. After the first order of eight cranes arrived in Abidjan in 2008, the company (SETV) operating the Vridi terminal bought eight more, assembling the RTGs on site this time. When we visited, four RTGs were still being assembled.

The imposing RTGsIt takes only six mechanics and six electricians to assemble the imposing RTGs. At the top of number sixteen, Julien N’dha, in a white t-shirt under a fluorescent security vest, welds the last parts.

N’dha has been a dockworker here for more than fifteen years and has witnessed the Vridi terminal modernization. The Konecranes RTGs are a symbol of this evolution for him.

He points to one of the cranes already operating, “When I see these huge cranes load and unload, I think that I have had a little something to do with it. And I’m proud of it.” With a big smile, he turns back to his work while a breeze from the sea cools the air.

At the west end of the terminal, Jani Riikonen supervises a small team that’s handling the last of the assembly work. With blond hair, tribal tattoos on

each arm, that are not completely covered by his t-shirt, this engineer-adventurer is not on his first working trip. Before the Ivory Coast, he worked in Japan, China, Mexico and India.

“They do good work here,” he says. “Obviously we have some communication challenges. Few Ivorians speak English

very well. But on the technical side, the drawings help us a lot! And it doesn’t stop us from going out some evenings with the staff.”

The Abidjan Port, the benchmarkJean-Michel Maheut, Ivory Coast Director of Bolloré Africa Logistics, the managing company of the Abidjan Port, talks to us in the round tower of the SETV that

faces the sea. Behind him a huge window overlooks the port. The director, who was a sailor for ten years before becoming a manager on land, keeps an eye on the boats.

“The partnership with Konecranes is part of the technical assets we have relied on to continue to make Abidjan a benchmark port,” he explains.

Indeed, for the Bolloré Group, working all around in Africa, the Abidjan Port is number one. The merchandise being unloaded under the window of Maheut feeds the Ivory Coast—it represents 30% of the country’s customs revenue—as well as most of West Africa.

The large ships coming from China or Europe benefit from the modern infrastructure of Abidjan to transship their containers onto smaller boats to destinations from Cotonou to Benin, or to Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo following the Congo River upstream and as far as Luanda in Angola. From the twenty-first quay, a railroad line goes directly to the port of Burkina Faso.

The very first RTGs operating in African portsFor the Bolloré Group, the use of a new generation Konecranes RTGs at the Vridi terminal has served as an example. Today, the Konecranes cranes also equip the Tin-Can Island Container Terminal in Lagos, Nigeria, of which Bolloré is also a shareholder.

For Konecranes, the Abidjan Port is also a showcase for its know-how. “These two sales represented our first contract with the Bolloré Group. It also involved the first RTGs operating in African ports,” explains Antoine Bosquet, Konecranes Sales Manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, who oversaw the purchases.

In Abidjan the choice of RTGs is catching on confirms Eric Codron, Technical Director.

The Vridi container port is just 30 ha “no bigger than a handkerchief for such an important logistics terminal”. With the increase in traffic, the only solution is densification. One of the first advantages of the RTGs is that they can stack six boxes, one alongside the other, while the previous equipment only stacked four.”

“Moreover, when moving containers the RTG crane that spans the stacks of containers only needs a few meters that correspond to the width of the machine’s legs,” adds Etienne Memevegni, one of the technical managers, demonstrating with a scale model.

There are nearly 500 Konecranes lift trucks in Africa and they have also an important role to play. They provide the best means for materials handling in modest sized terminals or logistics platforms in the hinterland.

The terminal storage capacity has risenIn total, the SETV has invested more than 26 million euros, if the civil works are added to the purchase of the sixteen

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RTGs. “And the results are what we had hoped. The terminal storage capacity has already risen from 14,068 TEUs before the RTGs arrived to 23,000 TEUs. Even though they are not all operating yet,” explains Laurent Kassi, in charge of operations planning.

Another advantage—delivery—the most sensitive question when you manage a port, is faster due to the RTGs.

To recover a container stored in the middle of a block, the RTG will have to make a maximum of four movements, compared to up seventeen for other equipment.

With the arrival of the RTGs the entire system has been modernized. Each cab communicates with the operations management via a new onboard IT system.

The RTG operators receive their mission orders in real time on the screen to their right. Therefore, when one truck comes to pick up cargo stocked in an area where the RTG-14 is stationed, an operator inputs the reference of the container or containers from the gate house at the port entrance.

At eighteen meters above ground, Julien Tahno Say receives his mission order on his screen. Even before the truck has entered the terminal. ■

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Top names in music come from Abidjan

Focusing on research

Konecranes

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Fresh ideas from summer trainees

Konecranes

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Story and photos by Vesa Eskola

What on earth do Konecranes and bagpipes have in common?

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w.k

onecran

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