The Kalmar Industries dealer in Denmark, Toyota Truck Danmark A/S, has acquired the truck maintenance division of the Danish company Condane, together with related employees and workshop facilities, with the aim of servicing transport equipment for companies at Denmark’s biggest container port, Århus Harbour.
Condane is a Danish maintenance specialist for port equipment, ships and other types of dockside handling equipment.
Kalmar described the takeover as significant because it gives it access to a skilled workforce and well-equipped premises of 1,000 square metres, ensuring a stronger presence and expansion possibilities with the main Ro-Ro operator in Århus, Århus Stevedore Kompani A/S (ÅSK). ÅSK operates around 50 container and/or trailer handling units of which 22 are Kalmar machines including reachstackers, terminal tractors and other heavy-duty equipment.
Finn Eliasen, sales manager at Toyota Truck Danmark A/S, explained how the acquisition would be beneficial to Kalmar: “We will gain a base from which we can present Kalmar’s products. We have also taken over a service contract with the FAA Holding A/S, to which ÅSK belongs, and will have a free rein to develop new business with those companies operating in the port.” Following an initial agreement in 2002, Toyota Truck Danmark A/S took over the maintenance facilities at the beginning of this year. Toyota Truck Danmark A/S will be in charge of the service contracts that Condane previously held with ÅSK and other parties in the FAA.
Jens Udsen, director of Toyota Truck Danmark A/S, which is headquartered at Vejle, outlined the reasons behind the acquisition: “We have had a close collaboration with ÅSK, which has acted as a test company for new equipment from Kalmar. When Condane aired the idea of selling the truck maintenance facilities, we were prepared to enter into serious negotiations. We have wanted workshop facilities here at Denmark’s biggest container port for a long time.” Distance would have presented a problem if Toyota Truck was to have any hope of gaining a larger share of the service market at the rapidly expanding port. Service inspection and repairs of reachstackers, straddle carriers and other handling equipment at the harbour must necessarily be carried out on the spot. But with Kalmar operating at the port, any problems with the machinery supplied by the company can be eliminated immediately thus maintaining the efficiency flow at the port.
Knud Vang Nielsen, technical director for FAA Holding A/S, appreciates Kalmar’s solution orientated services: “We started out as an internal service company and gradually took on jobs for other customers. But when companies buy machines today, this is increasingly taking the form of package solutions, which include service. We had no machine products for sale, and we were therefore afraid that Condane would be reduced to a size that would make it difficult to keep up with technological developments. Now we are looking forward instead to a good working relationship as a customer of and sparring partner for Toyota Truck.”
