Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC) has announced plans to build its fourth domestic production complex, such is the demand for its cranes.

Recent contract wins by the world’s biggest producer of dockside cranes have come from California and Hong Kong.

ZPMC has signed a US$143m contract to supply 20 large dockside cranes to the Port of Long Beach of the USA. Under the contract, 12 of the container cranes are to be delivered between April 2002 and December 2002. The remaining eight will be delivered as the Californian port needs them, according to a Reuters report.The cranes, with a capacity of 65t and a lift height of 37m, are one of the heaviest kinds of cranes produced by the Shanghai company, the report said.

The dockside crane company has also signed a $50m contract to supply container cranes to Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings from December 2001 to April 2002.