Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) has signed an agreement with SPP Machine Tech Co. Ltd., a marine machinery manufacturer in Korea, under which MHI is to license production and marketing of marine deck cranes. With this initiative, MHI aims at accelerating market penetration of MHI technology-based marine deck cranes in Korea, a shipbuilding superpower. Earlier, MHI licensed the technology to Jiangsu Masada Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. in China, in 2008. Through licensing to these two major shipbuilding nations, MHI looks to further expand its share in the global deck crane market.
MHI’s Deck Crane The deck cranes to be licensed are two models, currently on the market, having a 36-tonne hoisting capacity and a working radius of up to 26 and 28-metre, respectively. MHI would supply components for the cranes, including hydraulic machinery, to SPP Machine Tech.
Marine deck cranes are located on the decks of cargo ships and are used for loading and unloading of cargo.
MHI presently enjoys the largest share, 40 per cent of the Japanese market. For some time, the company has been looking for a way to effectively penetrate into Korea’s huge shipbuilding market. Meanwhile SPP Machine Tech, which had been licensed from a European manufacturer, was seeking to enhance its deck crane portfolio through the addition of more competitive machines by switching to technology licensing from MHI. The intentions of the two companies thus meshed and led to the conclusion of the licensing agreement.
SPP Machine Tech was established in 1988 as an affiliate of SPP Group, a major shipbuilding and marine machinery company in Korea. Besides deck cranes, which account for roughly half of total sales, SPP Machine Tech manufactures land-use goliath gantry cranes, marine boilers, rudders and other products. In the SPP Group, SPP Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a core company of the Group, builds bulk carriers that use deck cranes as one of its major products.
“Going forward MHI will maintain and further develop its solid collaborative relationship with SPP Machine Tech, and it also looks to promote further penetration of MHI’s marine deck cranes in the global market,” a statement issued by the company said.