Manitowoc, a premier provider of crawler, tower and mobile cranes for the heavy construction industry, said it has successfully delivered two Grove all-terrain cranes to Egypt-based Suez Shipyard Company.

A specialist in shipbuilding and repair services, Suez Shipyard Company received the new units (Grove GMK5130-2 and a GMK4080-1) through Orascom Trading, the Manitowoc dealer for Egypt.

These new additions mean the facility now has seven mobile cranes, with the latest deliveries being the company’s first Manitowoc-made units.

Established in 1862, the Egyptian shipbuilder is one of the most celebrated in the region, with its facilities boasting the largest floating dock in the Middle East, as well as its oldest graving dock.

The company has built a wide range of ships, including bulk and general cargo vessels, as well as LPG carriers and offshore rigs.

The two new cranes will help enhance the company’s in-house fleet and reduce its reliance on rental cranes, said  Essam Dabash, chairman of Suez Shipyard, who was part of the company delegation that travelled to the Manitowoc factory in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, to collect the cranes.

He said while Manitowoc already has a good reputation in Egypt, seeing the company’s factory - and especially the Product Verification Center (PVC) - gave him true confidence in the cranes it produces.

The PVC provides sophisticated component-level and full-vehicle testing to verify designs and durability early in product development processes. This enables Manitowoc to launch new models faster, as well as reducing warranty and field issues.

"The tour of Wilhelmshaven and the PVC was eye opening and we could understand the capabilities of Manitowoc and its determination to build first-class machines," remarked Dabash.

"Efficiency is essential to our own operations so we wanted to buy cranes that have excellent customer support and to which our operators will easily adapt. With these new Grove cranes, we are confident on both these points," he added.

Suez Shipyard Company, he said, will use the GMK5130-2 around its floating dock for general maintenance duties.

The 130-tonne capacity crane is a successor to the popular GMK5130-1 and is powered by an eight-cylinder, turbo-charged Mercedes-Benz OM 502 LA engine.

"It also has an improved cab over its predecessor that includes an ability to hydraulically tilt up to 20 degrees. The Twin-Lock boom extends from 12.9 m to 60 m in six sections and its maximum tip height is 92 m when working with jib extensions," he noted.

The company will use the flexible GMK4080-1 to support general maintenance duties and lifting tasks around the yard’s various workshops. The 80-tonne capacity, four-axle all-terrain crane features a 290 kW Mercedes engine that provides smooth and consistent power both on- and off-road. The machine is equipped with a 51-m, six-section Twin-Lock boom that can be extended to 82 m through the addition of jib sections.

Waleed Raouf, Manitowoc’s regional sales manager for mobile and crawler cranes, said: "Suez Shipyard Company is a world-class operation, so we are very proud to supply the first Grove cranes to the company."

"We hope these are the first of many, and I’m sure these two additions will bring tremendous efficiency to its maintenance operations and day-to-day activities," he added.-TradeArabia News Service