E-Crane eyes growing Asian market

[subheading_4]The Asian bulk equipment market is experiencing a period of significant growth. One region, in particular, that has caught the attention of crane manufacturer E-Crane Worldwide is Bangladesh, and the company has experienced significant success in the country. The E-Crane is designed specifically for barge and ship unloading, and is a proven and trusted solution in many bulk material handling industries.[/subheading_4]

Many dedicated systems for offloading coal, limestone and other bulk materials are costly, inflexible and require an expensive, hard to maintain infrastructure. The versatile, flexible E-Crane is just the opposite. E-Crane’s modular design and custom solutions make it ideal for any bulk handling application. E-Crane is purpose built for dedicated tasks including: offloading Panamax/Handymax sized vessels; barge loading/unloading; ship loading/unloading; feeding hoppers; and stockpiling. Since 2001, E-Crane Worldwide has fulfilled a staggering 20 contracts in Bangladesh, and demand is continuing to grow. Most Bangladeshi clients have become repeat customers, with some having three or even four E-Cranes operating at their terminals.

Shah Cement

1000 Series, 7264B PD-E
Material handled: clinker, limestone
Total capacity of grinding mill: 600tph
Conveyor capacity: 600tph

One of the recent success stories in Bangladesh is the first E-Crane supplied to Shah Cement. Shah Cement is one of the largest cement producers in the country with its headquarters in Chittagong and a production plant near Dhaka. Originally commissioned in August 2011 this crane, with a maximum outreach of 26 metres and a duty-cycle capacity of 9.1 tonnes, now has close to 9,000 working hours in only 18 months of near continuous operation. This means it has achieved staggering 6,000 hours per year!

During the initial start-up and training period client was averaging an unloading rate of 250tph (tonnes per hour). Over time this has risen to an impressive 390tph. This single E-Crane is effectively replacing three rope cranes.

In the first one-and-a-half years of operation, this E-Crane has proven to be the most versatile, reliable and cost effective unloading crane for this client. The main electric motor is a mere 200kW, further proof of how efficient the unloading operation has become with the addition of the E-Crane.

Next to high productivity and reliability, the lifetime of unloading cranes is also of the essence. With an A8 classification according to FEM 1.001, a long machine life is guaranteed.

Source: Dry Cargo International, April 2013