Indeed, savings made in the purchase price could well prove illusory, since trying to keep the cranes operational once components and parts begin to need replacement is proving to be harder than it should be.

Complaints received by Port Strategy suggest that, while some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are keen that their products are highly accessible in terms of price, they seem to put little effort into providing potentially even more lucrative after sales care, leaving others to fill the gap.

One major European consultancy contacted by PS said that the old adage “you get what you pay for” still rings true, particularly in respect of new build gantry and yard cranes. Its engineers often visit manufacturers' facilities to guarantee that construction standards for its clients' products are strictly adhered to. As a result, it is well aware of which OEMs put time and effort into providing good after sales services and those which do not.

Into this latter category, it lumps manufacturers from Japan, Malaysia, Korea and China, whose supply chain for spare parts provision it labels “a mess”.

“We invariably advise our clients to install European components in their cranes, even when buying these from companies such as ZPMC, IMSA, MHI or Doosan, because it is so much easier to source spare parts. If you have to go back to China, Malaysia, Japan or Korea, you can find yourself waiting for six months or even up to a year in extreme cases before being able to get hold of something you want. As a result, it makes sense for operators outside these countries to go for globally available parts and components that can be found virtually anywhere,” an engineer from the consultancy tells PS.

In the case of ZPMC, the Chinese manufacturer has pursued a policy of gaining market share by selling cheap cranes, but has seemingly overlooked the supply of spare parts and components for overseas buyers, despite these often being major money spinners.

“It may well be easy for terminal operators within China to find these parts, but internationally this is not the case,” says the engineer.

Apparently aware of the rising tide of discontent in terms of spare parts, ZPMC has established specialist parts distributors with adjoining depots in Europe (Amsterdam), Dubai, Taiwan, Singapore and the US, which are improving the situation. However, for those crane owners seeking to source parts directly from ZPMC in China, the seeming lack of an effective spare parts division in the company remains a significant handicap.

“During negotiations with ZPMC, a terminal operator will be offered an all-Chinese crane at prices significantly lower than for a crane incorporating European or US components. Although the purchase price might appear to be more attractive, such deals are usually struck with a terminal's commercial department, leaving its engineers to cope with problems such a decision may throw up over the next 20 years,” PS was told.

Indeed, in order to make an all-Chinese crane more attractive, ZPMC is prepared to give away some spares free of charge, while large customers may even strike deals to set up their own spares depots.

Those terminals choosing the all-Chinese route may well also benefit from the presence of one of the company's engineers during the commissioning and warranty period, even though such gestures by ZPMC are less common than they once were as the huge number of orders it now has to process means suitably qualified personnel are nowadays thinner on the ground. However, it has been noted that even company engineers in the field seem to struggle to rapidly source spare parts from China.

Operating manuals are made available for ZPMC cranes incorporating either Chinese components or foreign ones. Nevertheless, these often lack specific information relating to the exact model types used. So, while a ZPMC manual may well state that the crane as ordered incorporates a Siemens motor, it won't necessarily cite the exact model number, although will helpfully include Siemens' 1,000-page catalogue where that information is available, if you can find it.

For a crane incorporating something like ZPMC brakes, a catalogue is again provided, with the onus on the operator to then identify which model of brake is fitted to their crane.

In terms of major repairs, most terminals today have neither the facilities nor the personnel to undertake them; they have to look to external providers. This is because in areas such as electronics only specialised personnel fully appreciate what it required. The days when a run-of-mill electrician could repair a crane control system are long gone.

Companies such as Konecranes now make the majority of their profits from after sales services, while Kalmar is also becoming a specialist in this area. So, while these two manufacturers will probably continue to lose out to ZPMC in terms of equipment sales, they will more than make up for this by providing increasingly more sophisticated after sales services across equipment provided by a whole raft of manufacturers.

“The aim of Konecranes is to solve challenges faced by the customer in their production processes and this means providing services from a single source, irrespective of the crane OEM,” says Trygve Boström, port services director.

Quizzed as to how often Konecranes is brought in to provide maintenance coverage for cranes it did not manufacturer, Mr Boström says this is quite common in those cases where Konecranes is not selling in one of its own cranes; otherwise, maintenance provision is a major service that it tries to sell.

In the specific case of being brought in to maintain or repair a ZPMC crane, Boström says that the notorious lack of parts supply from China can be overcome and that this does not necessarily mean having to replace parts and components with those from a European manufacturer.

“In general, many options and sources are available. However, we prefer to keep our sourcing details as company internal information!” he says.

When pressed to say whether ZPMC policy of setting up of a series of spare parts divisions in various parts of the world would undermine Konecranes' maintenance business in the longer term, Mr Boström responds by pointing out that his company has not seen any recent tailing off in demand for its products and services at all.

PS contacted ZPMC to raise some of the issues appearing in this article. However, no feedback was forthcoming in time to meet our publishing deadline.

We also contacted several major operators of all-Chinese ZPMC cranes and asked whether they would like to contradict our findings. Only one responded.

HPH's container handling facility at the UK port of Felixstowe has ten ship-to-shore gantry cranes, plus numerous rubber-tyred gantry cranes and one rail-mounted gantry crane on its Southern Rail Terminal, all built by ZPMC. The gantry cranes, which were acquired in three separate orders, incorporate parts and components from both European and Chinese suppliers. The European parts include variable speed drives, electric motors and the driver's cabin, while Chinese component parts include structural fabrication components, including walkways, rope sheaves, trolley rails and drive shafts, which Paul Davey, head of corporate affairs in the UK, says have proved to be of good quality, giving good reliability and service.

“The overall quality and standard of manufacture has been very good. It is impossible to make direct comparisons of individual components, since these are either Chinese or European depending on the individual item; we don't have some of each. Nevertheless, reliability of Chinese supplied components has, generally, been of equal standard to European components. We have no issues with the availability or productivity of our ZPMC cranes,” says Mr Davey.

“Nor have we experienced any problems sourcing spares through ZPMC,” he adds.

In fact, Felixstowe has put a lot of effort into developing relationships with suppliers, normally seconding engineering staff into suppliers' facilities overseas, particularly during the manufacturing and commissioning phases of crane procurement. This has helped in achieving the high quality it is currently experiencing, says Mr Davey. This approach also helps the terminal develop understanding/relationships which, in turn, has a positive impact with after sales support.