KRANUNION, with its brands KIROW KOCKS and ARDELT, recently celebrated its 400 years combined anniversary. It has successfully managed a handover in senior management positions, combining experienced managers from within the industry together with external expertise. This strategy, combined with the joint KRANUNION sales approach of KOCKS and ARDELT that has been in force for the last two years, is starting to pay off.
Part of the new approach is to combine the sales forces of ARDELT and KOCKS and, in doing so, strengthen the responsibility of the international sales representative offices in KRANUNION’s core and target markets. KRANUNION will also focus on specific industries, mainly within the maritime sector.
Two significant orders for KRANUNION have been generated through its activities in North America. Firstly, the technological and quality advantages of ARDELT’s TUKAN K have been introduced to the market, with the first double level luffing crane to be sold to a major iron ore production facility in Corpus Christi,Texas. Secondly KRANUNION will supply a KOCKS BOXER to the Port of Vancouver’s education and training academy. At the academy, all new operators will learn to operate on a KOCKS crane with its highly renowned operating performance. Mark Reardon, who joined KRANUNION early in 2013, comments,“The North American market is one of the most important worldwide and has traditionally been a good reference for KOCKS cranes. We are delighted to continue that success and also to introduce the ARDELT brand to North America.”
In the meantime, KRANUNION South East Asia managed to secure orders for three FEEDER SERVER Panamax class STS cranes and one TUKAN double level luffing crane, adding to an already large product base in the region. “I am proud that the successful model of the Vietnamese representative office is now the blueprint for the equally successful KRANUNION sales approach,” comments the local Chief Representative Norman Groth. The French office, led by Aurélien Gérard contributed an ARDELT KRANICH 3000. Gérard comments that,“The KRANICH will be delivered to the Port of Brest and perfectly fits into our maritime business focus.”
The Brazilian office, founded approximately one year ago, secured its first order for one KRANICH 1000 for the Shipyard Estaleiro Rio Grande ERG2 in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, to be delivered and ready for operation in January 2015. Hartmut Seifert explains that, “The close co-operation between the ARDELT team in Germany and the KRANUNION sales office in Rio de Janeiro was the foundation for the receipt of this order”.
In former times Kranbau Eberswalde, the predecessor of ARDELT, has delivered more than 2,700 harbour cranes to the CIS countries. KRANUNION will continue this success and will expand the KRANUNION office in Saint Petersburg, while employing a renowned sales director and an additional service engineer.
The international sales activities together with the highly skilled support of the product companies at Eberswalde (ARDELT) and Bremen (KOCKS) have translated into an order intake for the first five months of €58.5 million, equating to 40% above budget.