Konecranes VLC Corporation has received an order worth Euro 32m for eight shipboard gantry cranes from Japanese Oshima Shipbuilding to be installed on board vessels ordered by Singaporean shipowner Masterbulk.

Eight Konecranes-Munckloader cranes with a lifting capacity of 68t each will be installed onboard four 48,000t open hatch general cargo container vessels ordered by Masterbulk. Konecranes VLC delivered eight similar 40t cranes to four of Masterbulk’s 40,000 tons vessels in 1999/2000.

The engineering and the key components for the shipboard gantries will be delivered from Finland. The crane structures will be manufactured and assembled in Korea. When fully erected and tested the cranes will be barged to Japan. The Oshima shipyard will install the cranes onboard the vessels.

The vessels will be delivered during the second half of 2003 and at the beginning of 2004 to Norway’s Star Shipping and will be employed in Star’s worldwide forestry trades. Star Shipping is jointly owned by Masterbulk and Grieg Shipping of Norway. The increased capacity of the gantry cranes will reduce loading and unloading times. Lower draft and higher tonnage allow more cargo to be carried through the Panama Canal and gives the new ships access to more low draft ports.

In nine months Konecranes VLC has now secured three orders for a total of 25 Munckloaders. In July 2000 Gdynia Shipyard ordered 14 cranes to be installed on seven ships for US-based Westwood Shipping Line, and in August 2000 the US Maritime Administration ordered three cranes.