According to reports, Konecranes has won orders for two Gottwald Model 8 floating cranes from COSCO Shipping Bulk Co. COSCO Shipping Bulk is a subsidiary of COSCO, the third largest shipping company to handle bulk cargo.
Konecranes’ Gottwald cranes will tranship bauxite for COSCO from river barges onto ocean-going Panamax vessels on the open sea. They are specially designed in accordance with Lloyd’s Register Code for Lifting Appliances in a Marine Environment, so as to operate at wind speed up to 24 metres per second and maximum wave heights of 2.5 metres.
ZhiJun Fan, General Manager of Technical Division of COSCO, commented: “We will operate the two floating cranes within the framework of our cooperation with China Aluminium group, an important step in the implementation of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.”
He further said, “The aim is to transport bauxite from Guinea to the aluminium plants in China. As transhipping raw materials at sea quickly and safely plays a key role in the supply chain, we opted for Konecranes Gottwald Floating Cranes.