News

2010-06-08

BROMMA EXPANDS GREENLINE™ SPREADER FLEET AT RAPIDLY GROWING MALTA FREEPORT

The world’s leading crane spreader company, Stockholm (Sweden) based Bromma, continues to expand its fleet of spreaders at Malta Freeport in the growing Mediterranean region.  Bromma currently has 50 GREENLINE™ spreaders in service at Malta Freeport, an early purchaser of Bromma all-electric spreaders. Malta Freeport has also been an early adopter of Bromma STS45E all-electric quay crane twin-lift spreaders. Today Malta Freeport has 6 Bromma GREENLINE separating STS spreaders in service.

In part, Malta Freeport’s decision to specify all-electric STS45E spreaders is due to the advantages of advanced Bromma SCS3 technology. As Mr. Rutter says:

“The communications protocols developed by Bromma looked so good. I mean, if you had a choice between a 2-wire system and 48 core spreader cables, which would you choose? You choose 2-wire, obviously. Anyone can see that it costs you a lot, lot less, plus you have a lot more flexibility.”

In addition, Mr. Rutter cites the dramatic reduction in fault-finding time associated with SCS3 technology:

“Look, before you were blind. The only indication you had when you went to the spreader to see what was wrong were the indication lights on the spreader, and that was far, far short of what you needed. When you are talking about serial communications, one of the things that I like very much is the fact that you can walk to the spreader and open the screen and you can see whether there is a spreader problem, or whether the problem is from the spreader to the crane. And that in the past has been very, very, very difficult to diagnose. The guys here love it, and it is so easy to use. It’s a touch-panel; you just touch the screen and you can go down and down and down to the different levels, and see in what area of the node the signal is working or not working, where the signal is coming or not coming.”

Just as all-electrics have proven to be the future of container handling on the yard, Mr. Rutter also believes that a strong case can be made for a future transition to all-electric spreaders on quay cranes.

This is another reason why Bromma all-electric separating twin STS spreaders can be found today in service on Malta Freeport dual-hoist cranes. As Mr. Rutter says:

“I thought the future would be all-electrics – I could see it coming – that we will end up with all-electrics. I mean, it is cheaper; it is cleaner; and there are a lot of benefits in it other than that as well.”

Disciplined Capital Allocation in Spreader Purchasing

Container handling throughput at Malta Freeport Terminals has roughly doubled since 2004. This acceleration in throughput has been accompanied by major improvements in productivity. In 2004, Malta Freeport averaged 14 containers per hour; today terminal productivity has risen to 24-25 containers per hour. Malta Freeport’s long commitment to operating excellence extends not only to equipment performance, but to the capital allocation decisions required to sustain such performance. Malta Freeport Terminal takes a comprehensive approach to capital investment by looking at many factors, including:

 Initial purchase price
 Operational reliability (failure incidents, time to resolve breakdowns, etc.)
 Operational costs (fuel consumption, maintenance frequency, maintenance cost, etc.)
 After-sales support
 Equipment durability
 Spare parts stock

Malta Freeport’s also prefers, wherever possible, to standardize its container handling operations by focusing investment on a limited number of higher-quality suppliers. Short-term savings by purchasing different equipment brands can easily be lost through excessively high spare parts stock, lower reliability, and redundant technician training. Malta Freeport’s strategic decision to focus on all-electric equipment has resulted in remarkable reductions in monthly equipment operating costs, as well as enhanced yard safety. As Mr. Rutter says:

“I’m a firm believer in trying to keep the same product, especially once you have a good product. You look at everything that is on the market, and sure, we do a comparison check  each time we go out to buy equipment … But, it is good for your stock holdings, for your skill levels, for your training – there are many, many advantages with staying with the same supplier if he produces a good product and if he can give you that after-sales support … I have a confidence in the structures on the Bromma spreader. I have worked with Bromma spreaders off and on for the last 20-25 years in the business. I can’t emphasize enough the assistance we get from Bromma.”


ABOUT BROMMA CONQUIP

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Bromma is the world leader in crane spreaders. A pioneer in the container handling industry, Bromma supports container terminals worldwide with the industry's most reliable and technically advanced spreader family.  Bromma has delivered crane spreaders to 500 terminals in 90 nations on 6 continents, and Bromma spreaders are in service today at 97 out of the world’s largest 100 container ports. Bromma is the industry market leader in ship-to-shore spreaders, mobile harbor crane spreaders, and yard crane spreaders. Bromma R&D engineers are responsible for a long line of industry technical innovations, including all-electric GREENLINE™ spreaders.


CONTACT INFORMATION

Stellan Strömberg, Sales Manager, Bromma Conquip, Stockholm, Sweden.
Email: stellan.stromberg@bromma.com; Phone: +468.620.0900

Therese Westerudd, Marketing Manager, Bromma Conquip, Stockholm, Sweden.
Email: therese.westerudd@bromma.com; Phone: +468.620.0900