FINLAND MacGregor expands on three fronts
STRONG orderbooks across the board see MacGregor investing in production, after sales and electrically-driven systems
S
USTAINED high order levels for container vessels have been reflected in high demand
for the hatch covers, cargo cranes and lashing equipment supplied by MacGregor. Orders for pure car and truck carriers have also been forging ahead, generating significant business for the company’s ro-ro access equipment operations. Last year, the company also took over shoreside
and shipboard dry bulk handling equipment supplier BMH Marine, renaming it MCG Bulk. Given sustained high demand for dry bulk tonnage, the move looks particularly opportune. During the first nine months of year 2006,
MacGregor’s net sales totalled €343.5m, 29.1% above the corresponding figure a year earlier. The business unit received orders for nearly €535m, up 63%. The orderbook stood at €798.2m at the end of September, up 59.7% from a year earlier, a considerable part of which will be delivered in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Now heading a company employing 1100 people globally, MacGregor president Olli Isotalo told The Naval Architect: ‘The boom within the maritime businesses has been unexpectedly high and long, which has reflected also in our results and activities. The containership boom, which seems to peak next year, has been strong. The need for bulk carriers has been growing with the need for raw materials particularly in Asia.’ MacGregor’s sustained growth has been fostered
through its willingness to enter partnership agreements overseas, not least in China, to boost production capacity. ‘We operate through a real partnership,’ said
Mr Isotalo. ‘We have our own people based at the factories for supervising the production, the technology and processes of which are typically our know-how. This type of operation provides a win-win situation for both parties.’ Mr Isotalo said that the group has not experienced much difficulty with delivery times, caused by lack of raw materials
or sub-supplies due to the shipbuilding boom. ‘We have been able to keep our partners well informed on coming orders, which has made them prepared. We have some 15 strategic partners, of which a little less than ten are in China, plus a good network of sub-suppliers. In China alone, we directly and indirectly provide work for some 2500 people.’ The service market, which today represents a
third of MacGREGOR's revenues, has for some years already been a strategic growth sector within the group. Mr Isotalo said that acquisitions of companies providing services would continue. ‘We sell availability, not service hours only,’ he noted. ‘We are strongly focused on lifetime cost savings, where service represents one part.’ In August last year, MacGregor signed an
agreement to acquire the business of Scottish Grampian Hydraulics, expanding its service offering for offshore support vessels in the North Sea. MacGregor also signed a cooperation agreement with China Shipping Industry Co (CIC) to establish seven service stations at CIC repair yards. Four service stations will be established in the Shanghai area and three in Guangzhou, China. ‘There are already a big number of clients who
have opted for MacGregor's Onboard Care service concept,’ Mr Isotalo noted. This is the company's most comprehensive category of service provided and combines planned preventive maintenance with knowledge about actual equipment condition. The Onboard Care service programme was launched in 2004 and now covers more than 350 vessels.
Electrically driven If service provides one platform for growth, MacGregor remains attuned to the need to evolve products to meet market requirements. In this vein, the company said it clearly saw a trend towards electrically driven cargo handling and access equipment and away from today’s dominant hydraulic systems. MacGregor recently introduced environmentally-
friendly engineering solutions in a range of electrically driven products. These include cranes,
The MacPILER gantry crane is driven from the port side by two electric motors. On the opposite side, there is a stand for the operator. The panel hoist is located on top of the MacPILER, also powered by an electric motor.
The E-Roll side-rolling electrically-driven hatch cover.
rolling hatch covers, a hatch cover stacking device and ro-ro cargo access equipment. In addition to the requirement of equal or better performance, the systems developed should provide equal or lower initial cost to hydraulic systems. The electric-drive side-roll hatch cover began
as a three-year project in 2002. Electric-drive hatch covers have progressed from single- pull covers with the wheels lifted by hydraulic cylinders; ‘piggy back’ covers, again with the wheels lifted by hydraulic cylinders; and sliding covers for tweendecks. Last year, the first electric drive side-roll
hatch covers were sold to Japanese Universal Shipbuilding Corporation. Twelve 207,000dwt bulk carriers will receive the E-Roll type rolling hatch covers developed together with the yard. Last year MacGregor also secured the first
order for the new generation of electrically driven cranes and continued its efforts to develop the next generation of control system for ship cranes. Other new electrically-driven equipment include various items of ro-ro cargo access equipment and the ‘MacPILER’ liftaway hatch cover stacker, a new type of hatch cover lifting device. First orders were placed last year for a series of
four 4400dwt multipurpose cargo ships ordered by Intership Navigation. The ships are being built at Rongcheng Shipbuilding Industry Co in Shandong, China for delivery between December 2007 and December 2008. The MacPILER is a gantry crane that travels
the length of the weatherdeck of the vessels, hoisting, carrying and stacking lift-away hatch cover panels. It is guided by rails and spans hatch widths of up to 12.65m. The lifting capacity is 18t and the gantry crane can carry two lift- away hatch cover panels at a time to either end of the hold opening where it stacks them up to six panels high. The MacPILER gantry crane can carry two hatch cover panels, one in an uppermost position, mechanically supported, and the second panel on the hoist.
14 THE NAVAL ARCHITECT FEBRUARY 2007
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