Nemag has experienced seven consecutive years of growing turnover in the sales of grabs and grab-related components, such as the Nemag Quick Release Links and Nemag Rope Pear Sockets.
Having started the year 2009 with confidence but with some trepidation regarding the duration of the global economic downturn, it has nevertheless managed to achieve very satisfactory results throughout the year.
Nemag is currently focusing particularly on the design and manufacture of high end bulk handling grabs.
Its customers are large-scale bulk handling companies, steel plants and coal fired power stations which handle very large quantities of bulk such as coal and iron ore.
These customers all share the same high berth occupancy, combined with the fact that they use relatively small quantities of grabs to handle huge tonnages of cargo.
Nemag has experienced a continuing demand during the last year with numerous new opportunities for the near future, and that is reflected in the order book of Nemag, which is about full for 2010.
The difficult market conditions of the last couple of years have forced Nemag’s customers to pay particular attention to the returns on all their investments, which includes their grabs. An especially important expense is the running cost of an installation and its equipment. The reason many big stevedoring companies choose to operate a Nemag grab is because it ensures the lowest maintenance cost per tonne against the highest productivity.
According to Nemag’s sales manager Riny Stoutjesdijk: “When using this kind of equipment, it is of paramount importance to realize that investment cost of a grab is of relative small importance compared to the total life cycle costs; every experienced stevedoring company knows that.”
While the market is picking up again Nemag reports some significant contracts for various types of installations within and outside Europe. Having said that, the vast majority of the important Dutch terminal operators have opted again for Nemag grabs.
Nemag has recently delivered various grabs to the Rotterdam-based EBS, as well as for the new ship unloader
belonging to EECV at Europoort.
Furthermore Nemag reports recent ‘home-made’ contracts for supplies to Europees Massagoed – Overslagbedrijf (EMO) and OVET’s floating operation on the river Schelde.
Also in the area of Amsterdam new Nemag grabs will be delivered to the steelworks of Corus in IJmuiden, for the new
ship unloader at OBA, and for the new floating crane that was ordered by the terminal of Rietlanden.
Having celebrated its 85th anniversary last year, Nemag looks forward to maintaining its leading technological position in large scale bulk handling with great confidence for many years to come.