Bromma enjoys North American uptick

It received orders for multiple units from Georgia Ports Authority, Houston’s Bayport, Canada’s GCT Deltaport and Port Everglades Terminal, among others, in the first half of the year.

The Swedish manufacturer puts the surge down to a number of factors: “One driver is that the equipment in North America is getting old and needs replacing,” said commercial director Vikram Raman. “Also, the US economy is recovering, and ports are positioning themselves for the opening up of the expanded Panama Canal.

“Another trend is that states are pushing for more eco-friendly solutions and this is helping to push up investment in equipment.”

In other news, Bromma has said it is confident that it will close its first commercial contract for its Automatic Lashing Platform by the end of the year.

It added the platform to its portfolio in 2012 and despite lengthy trials and revisions of the prototype, Bromma has found it difficult to make a foothold in this market to date.

Marketing vice-president Lars Meurling said: “We have found that the timeline for introducing new technology is longer than we would like it to be. But we still believe in the technology and we are slowly getting there.”

Mr Raman added: “There is huge potential for this product. There are a lot of drivers [for automated twistlock removal], such as safety, labour supply and efficiency.”