Liebherr’s mobile harbour crane division has reported a record year in crane sales for 2014, with deliveries up 9.8 percent from its previous record set in 2008.
Celebrating its 40th year since delivering its first mobile harbour crane, the company delivered a total of 112 units to six continents last year – a 9.8 percent increase from 2008 when the company sold a record 102 mobile harbour cranes.
Europe remains the company’s largest market, accounting for 38 percent of its shipments, while the African market tripled last year’s sales numbers to account for nearly 30 percent. This was due, in part, to a substantial order of 20 units from port operators in Algeria, which almost doubled the total number of units delivered to Algeria since its first in 1995. Latin America and Asia both accounted for 13 percent, while the company also delivered units to the Middle East, North America and Oceania.
The LHM 550 was the most successful model with 35 units shipped worldwide, while the number of LHM280s more than doubled from 2013 to 23 units.
Matthias Mungenast, Liebherr mobile harbour cranes sales director, said: “For a fantastic year like 2014 several factors have to come together. We started with a record order backlog into the year. Throughout the year demand for our cargo handling solution was very stable on a high level. Moreover, large orders helped to significantly increase the population of Liebherr mobile harbour cranes. Finally, we broke the existing record by nearly 10 percent, which is amazing considering the economic environment.”
The company also confirmed its order backlog for 2015 is one of the highest to date and is highly optimistic for 2015.