Liebherr Africa
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Transcript of Liebherr Africa
www.liebherr.com
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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.
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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