Liebherr Africa

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Prosperous Voyages for Liebherr Africa

Transcript of Liebherr Africa

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Prosperous Voyages Last month, Liebherr Africa launched a new maritime centre in Durban. Essential Business spoke to Henner Rodenwoldt, Maritime Division Manager of Liebherr Africa, to find out more about the subsidiary's activities and growing influence across the continent.

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March saw the opening of Liebherr

Africa's first maritime hub in

South Africa. Located just outside

of Durban, the new service centre is set to

offer complete service staff training in

addition to sales and spares for all of its

products in South Africa. With Africa being

the second largest market for its parent

Liebherr Group last year, the company has

seen a threefold increase in mobile

harbour crane deliveries from the 2013-

2014 period, and is optimistic about

meeting the on-going demands of the

African market.

“We've had a long business relationship

with Transnet. They have over 60 Liebherr

cranes now, including 31 ship-to-shore

cranes, 13 mobile harbour cranes, and 18

rubber tyre gantry (RTG) cranes,” begins

Rodenwoldt. “As a result of that good

relationship, and together with the

development we've seen here in Africa, we

decided we would open up this maritime

hub as an extended arm of the head offices

in Europe.”

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The last few years have seen a significant

increase in South Africa's infrastructure

spending, with room for more growth to

follow.

“If you look at all the landlocked economies,

they have started to thrive and develop now.

That helps us, and the ports in general, to

deliver the products to and from these

economies,” explains Rodenwoldt. “Over the

last few years, we've seen that a lot of ports

or shipping companies in the oil and gas

sector are pushing for productivity and

safety, so we looked to different industries

to see how we could improve productivity on

the skills front,” he continues.

“We looked at the realistic simulators of the

aerospace industry, and we spent significant

money, research and development (R&D) and

also resources in developing simulators

specifically for our products. This will drive

productivity, reduce risk of damage on the

machines themselves, and eliminate risk

factors — and then pass these advantages

on to the customers.”

The South African skills shortage has proved

challenging for Liebherr Africa, but the

company's solution benefits both its

business and the local economy. “We've

started an apprenticeship programme here

in South Africa, where we take on a number

of apprentices each year and start training

them for the next three years so we can

“ Over the last few years, we've seen that a lot of ports or shipping companies in the oil and gas sector are pushing for productivity and safety, so we looked to different industries to see how we could improve productivity on the skills front.

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Henner Rodenwoldt, Maritime Division Manager

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reduce our expat contingency and work

with local people,” explains Rodenwoldt.

“The crane simulators are for both

operational and technical training, and we

cover the whole maritime range — from

ship-to-shore cranes and RTG to mobile

harbour cranes and offshore cranes. It's

one of the best training centres we have in

our group.”

In October last year, the South African

government launched Operation Phakisa.

The initiative aims to have government,

academia, and industry working together

to find methods of reducing

unemployment, and hopes to create over

one million jobs by 2033. Operation

Phakisa will begin by exploring the

potential of South Africa's oceans —

focusing on industries such as marine

transport and manufacturing; offshore oil

and gas; marine protection; and fish

farming to name just a few.

“Phakisa is a very interesting initiative that

will help the South African economy

significantly, specifically the shipbuilding

and ship repair industry,” says Rodenwoldt.

“And Liebherr is very strong in this field as

well, in terms of delivering cranes and

infrastructure. A lot of the infrastructure

that is in place here in South Africa is very

old, and over the years there have been a

lot of exciting new innovations in this

sector. We are very happy to play our part

in helping to propose possible solutions for

what can be done in the shipyards in terms

of innovation and progress.”

Liebherr's worldwide reputation for

innovation extends to its subsidiaries, with

Liebherr Africa demonstrating its talent for

forward-thinking designs and solutions.

“We're working on a lot of innovations at

the moment. One thing we're looking at is

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increasing our product portfolio, and in

April 2015 we issued the world's largest

mobile harbour crane, the LHM 800. It has

a lifting capacity of 308 tonnes, which is

100 tonnes more than its predecessor,”

says Rodenwoldt. “We've also looked at

certain operations, specifically the grab

operations, where we've developed the

SmartGrip system.”

The SmartGrip system Rodenwoldt refers

to is an intelligent grabbing technology,

designed to increase turnover and

eliminate stress and overloads on the

crane. SmartGrip technology is currently in

use across the grab operations sector, and

is being tested on transshipment

operations in Africa.

“The SmartGrip innovation has received a

lot of attention, and it's something that the

market has been wanting for a long time,”

says Rodenwoldt.

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Liebherr Africa is also looking to expand

into new markets, and with its order books

already very full in South Africa, it certainly

looks to be a busy year for the company.

“Obviously the west-African market is a

big market for us, and we have a very

strong presence within it,” says

Rodenwoldt. “This year, we're able to break

into the east African market, where

traditionally our competition has been

strong. We're able to deliver ship-to-shore

cranes to Kenya, and we're able to deliver

mobile harbour cranes to Maputo, so all

from the beginning of the year we will be

represented in the east African countries as

well, which is very interesting.”

“ We're working on a lot of innovations at the moment. One thing we're looking at is increasing our product portfolio, and in April 2015 we issued the world's largest mobile harbour crane, the LHM 800.

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Liebherr Africa (Pty) Ltd

P.O. Box 40033

2 Kubu Ave Riverhorse Valley

Durban North 4071,

South Africa

Tel: +27 (0) 31 010 - 0300

E-mail: [email protected]

Contact our office in South Africa

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