Mitsubishi and Anupam to build container cranes in India

Headquartered in Anand, Gujarat, in the western region of India, the venture was capitalised by INR1.88bn with Anupam owning 51% and MHI owning 49% of the capitalisation. Anupam’s Mehul Patel was appointed CEO.

The partnership will manufacture heavy-duty material handling equipment, including quayside container cranes, as well as handle marketing and after-sales service. Two plants, one for production and one for assembly, will make 60 units per year.

Other port equipment and transfer equipment will be made under the agreement: container cranes and unloaders, bulk material handling systems for the coal industry and plant logistics systems for steel plants, including overhead traveling cranes.

Anupam was founded in India in 1973, growing to become one of the region’s largest overhead crane builders for the steel, power, construction, cement, shipyard, fertiliser, and petrochemicals industries.

MHI in 2010 licensed technology for similar equipment to Anupam and entered discussions for a joint collaboration.

MHI said: “By combining MHI's product development and manufacturing expertise and engineering know-how relating to installation with Anupam's production bases and local marketing/service network, the two companies are engaging dynamically to develop their market in India.”

Developing Indian infrastructure is a goal MHI hopes to assist. “The heavy-duty material handling system and port cranes market is expected to grow significantly in Asian countries, including India, which views port facility improvement as one of the country's growth strategies, as well as in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

“Going forward MHI will continue to strengthen its aggressive marketing activities, leveraging the new JV with Anupam as a production base that will further enhance MHI's capability to respond to the needs of the global market.”