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1. E-Crane International USA (ECI-USA)1332 Freese Works PlaceGalion, OH 44833 Background Indusign NV is a Belgian engineering company that is the creator and exclusive owner of the E- Crane® product line. E-Crane USA, Galion, Ohio, was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary to serve the American market. ECI manufactures all of its products in Adegem, Belgium. ECI-USA is the selling agency of ECI for the North & South American markets, and has been selling in these markets since 2001. The crane products are hydraulic operated “material handlers” and they are for three (3) applications for the handling of: BULK MATERIALS, SCRAP, AND DREDGING. From their bulk handling brochure: In an E-Crane, “the boom, stick, operator bucket and half of the payload are balanced throughout the movement of the crane, making it very energy efficient” as per Mark Osborne, President of ECI-USA. Per Mark Osborne, “about two thirds of ECI-USA’s business is bulk materials, while in Europe scrap is over 60% of their business.”
2. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products34 Models and why they are selected
3. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continued How to understand a model #? As an example, the 700 Series, Model 4248 means a minimum duty cycle of 4 metric tons at a reach of 24.8 meters. From the model box itself, the duty cycle capacity is 5.5 metric tons with a clamshell and 6.5 metric tons with a lifting hook, and the figures in US tons are also provided. The 24.8 meters is equal to 81.5 feet. The 700 and 1000 Series are not capable of reaching 1000 TPH (tons per hour). They would be able to provide 500- 600 TPH.
4. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continued “The 1500 Series can unload barges at the rate of 1000 TPH, the 2000 Series can do up to 1500 TPH and the top series, the 3000 series, can do over 2000 TPH” per Mark Osborne. Of course the reach, slewing angles and density of material will cause some variations in these results. For a ballpark on prices for fixed or free standing pedestals ( less expensive options than mobile rails or crawlers): Model 11264 starts at $1.5 million Model 18264 starts at $2.4 million and Model 26317 starts at $3.2 million. The duty cycle capacity for a clamshell grab of the 11264 is 18.2 US tons at 86.5 feet, the 18264 is 26.5 US tons at 86.5 feet, and the 26317 is 37.4 US tons at 104.0 feet.
5. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continuedCustom Designed Undercarriages Every E-Crane® is custom designed to meet your specific needs. E-Crane® engineers will work with you to provide a solution that optimizes your operation. E-Crane fixed pedestal lowers take up the smallest footprint, and the free standing pedestal options require the least local support. Traveling options include electrically driven rail undercarriages as well as diesel crawlers with electric plug in. The balanced design also provides great stability making it the perfect floating barge mount application. Floating Barge Mount
6. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continuedE-Crane Attachments E-Crane® provides custom engineered attachments and grabs to meet your needs. The E-Crane® flexible manufacturing process allows for quick delivery and off-the-shelf pricing. Every E-Crane® is also compatible with attachments from any grab manufacturer. Grabs designed and supplied by E-Crane® include: Hydraulic Clamshell Grab Hydraulic Orange Peel Grapple Quick-Change Does your operation require multiple attachments? Change attachments in a matter of minutes with E-Crane’s® quick-change! The quick-change mechanical coupler is a more efficient and safer way to switch between attachments. E-Crane® can easily modify existing grabs to fit the quick-change twist-lock pattern. Note that the largest standard grab involving low density materials is 9.2 cubic yards. Larger grab units are available and would be custom.
7. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continuedCrane Classification Note that in the Grab Mode, all E-Cranes meet FEM A8, which is the highest service life rating. Other rating systems are also listed.
8. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continued This page was taken from the E-Crane documentation and shows what the operator is expected to do before the crane is operated.
9. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continuedCrane Classification continued
10. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling Products continuedE-Crane vs. Large Material Handler
11. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsCompetition and Markets In an Engineering & Equipment article July 2009 Mark Osborne said that there were “50 E-Cranes operating in North and South America.” In a World Port Development article dated December 21, 2012, Mark Osborne said that there were 70 E-Cranes operating in North and South America.” The difference for the above quotes is 20 cranes in the past 3 and one half years, or about 6 per year. This is consistent with what I was told in the company interview with statements from Mark Osborne like: - “we own the Oho River (for unloading dry barges…we now have 8 units installed at AEP” - “we now have 40+ units installed in river barge unloading applications” - “we are the market leader in river barge unloading in the USA” - The Sennebogen 880EQ competes with our 1500 Series, but “we can beat them every time on price and operating costs.” - “50% of barge unloading is for power plant materials like coal, coke, limestone.” Limestone was said to be used by power plants for coal pollution control, and gypsum becomes a by-product of the pollution control, which is collected and shipped to drywall producers. The E-cranes are not used to load barges with gypsum. The gypsum is loaded by excavators. Main competitors named were Sennebogen who only sells hydraulic cranes (material handlers) for river barge unloading, and PLM Cranes. Mark Osborne said that Mantsinen and Metso sell hydraulic cranes but that both are small suppliers in the USA. Mark did say that PLM sells a reliable duty cycle crane, but that it is a 4 rope cable crane, and is much slower unloading barges than the E-Crane. Mark claimed that cable cranes used in duty cycle applications require frequent rope replacements. Mark added that Manitowoc’s line of lattice boom crawler cranes do not have 1000 TPH unloading capacity. Liebherr and Gottwald were stated to be the leaders in “mobile harbour cranes,” but that both of them market cranes for unloading much larger vessels. River barges from 1500 tons to 3000 tons are considered quite small and are not ideal for the products that Liebherr and Gottwald make. Mark did say that for larger vessels, both suppliers have cranes that will perform at 1000 TPH to 2000 TPH. At E-Crane, the company has a ‘turnkey’ style approach, to maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. It now offers its customers complete barge offloading solutions including hoppers, feeders, barge positioning systems, and even floating solutions mounted on deck barges. The company has great expertise in barge offloading, and uses this to design the most efficient systems so that its customers can get as much out of their machines as possible. ECI-USA’s customers are also satisfied with this approach, as it eliminates much of the headache of procurement and project management that goes into these types of projects.
12. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsCompetition and Markets continued From secondary research I was easily able to locate 4 specific E-Crane installations in 2012: Mulzer Crushed Stone in Evansville IN Savage Services coke unloading in New Orleans LA Nucor scrap unloading in Jackson MS CalPortland Co in Seattle WA Both Mulzer and CalPortland are in the top 25 construction aggregate producers in the USA. See http://www.equipmentworld.com/the-nations-top-25-construction-aggregates-producers/?full-article=true for details. Where rivers are available, the construction aggregate producers will use barges for shipment to minimize the distance traveled by dump trucks to the ultimate end users. If barges can be used for the entire distance, they will be used. The construction aggregates industry is active in all 50 states and consists of about 5,400 mining companies that manage more than 10,000 operations. In 2010, the 10 leading construction aggregates-producing states were, in descending order of tonnage, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Michigan, and Florida. These 10 states accounted for 44 percent of the national production of construction aggregates, or 935 million short tons. Note that most of these states have rivers for transport. Of the 291 million short tons of construction aggregates produced by these 100 largest operations, 68 percent was limestone and dolomite and 14 percent was construction sand and gravel. Note that limestone is a common material used by all coal fired power plants. The top 25 suppliers in 2010 were: 1. Vulcan Materials Co. 2. Martin Marietta Aggregates 3. Oldcastle Materials, Inc. 4. Lehigh Hanson, Inc. 5. Cemex S.A.B. de C.V.  6. Lafarge North America, Inc.  7. Holcim Group/Aggregate Industries Management, Inc.  8. Carmeuse Lime & Stone 9. Rogers Group, Inc.  10. MDU Resources Group, Inc./Knife River Corp. 11. New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc. 12. Ash Grove Cement Co. 13. Dolese Bros. Co. 14. Texas Industries, Inc. (TXI) 15. Mulzer Crushed Stone, Inc. 16. Luck Stone Corp. 17. CalPortland Co. 18. Granite Construction Inc. 19. Colas Inc. 20. Ready Mix USA Holding Co. (now part of Cemex)  21. DeAtley Crushing Co. 22. Chemical Lime Co. (part of Lhoist North America) 23. Mitsubishi Cement Corp. 24. National Lime & Stone Co. 25. The H&K Group, Div. of Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc.
13. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsCompetition and Markets continued December 21, 2012 World Port Development December 2012, pages 26, 27, 29 Pertinent points: A year ago they were hopeful of a stronger performance in 2012 and for some, despite the worldwide economic gloom this year has been a brighter, more encouraging experience. It’s hard to take the wind out of major manufacturers like Belgian-based E-Crane Worldwide and its subsidiary E-Crane International in the United States (part of the Indusign NV Group), who both report a stronger year and ooze confidence amid busy order books.“We have nine crane orders in progress all at the same time,” says E-Crane International President, Mark Osborne, in Ohio. In Belgium, E-Crane Worldwide  International Sales Manager, Bas Tolhuizen, reports 16 cranes sold in 2011 and a further 15 in 2012, but for a higher cost per unit value because of the cranes selected. There’s no doubt who is leading the balanced crane market in sales these days with the sales picture for 2013 looking strong “with plenty of opportunities for us to supply our machine.” Unfortunately, there are others in the equilibrium crane business who are still limping along while one balanced crane maker is currently doing some strategic navel gazing after continuing dismal sales figures for this market segment in bulk handling, and might even pull out of the balanced crane sector altogether. I n the spring of 2012, Sennebogen completed the delivery of a one of its 880 EQ balanced cranes to Redpath Sugar in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. On the north bank of Lake Ontario, the Redpath Sugar site deals in year-round business despite the cold season when ice closes the dock for several months.This means there has to be a boost in activity in the good months, and Sennebogen’s 880 EQ had no trouble outperforming the two old cable cranes it replaced with an initial performance of 600 tonnes an hour. With a capacity of 8,000 kilograms of sugar per cycle, the 880 EQ now moves nearly twice as much as the previous two cranes put together, according to Sennebogen.“We have definitely made the right decision with the Sennebogen 880EQ,” says Redpath’s Manager for Engineering Projects, Jonathan Dunn.“We planned to increase our productivity by up to 50% by investing in this new machine. I am sure we will reach this goal thanks to the outstanding performance.” In another notable but earlier sale, Sennebogen’s new sales and service partner for India, Forsenia Engineering Pvt Ltd, delivered an 880EQ D series with 33m boom on a crawler chassis to the Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd for bulk material handling.
14. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsCompetition and Markets continued December 21, 2012 World Port Development December 2012, pages 26, 27, 29 Pertinent points continued: North America E-Crane International USA is a powerhouse on America’s inland waterways and recently sold a floating 1500 series to Mulzer Crushed Stone in Evansville, Indiana; a 700 series pedestal model to Nucor in Jackson, Mississippi, for use in general recycling duties feeding auto bodies into a shredder; a 1500B series on crawlers for coke unloading duties near New Orleans, Louisiana; and American Electric Power – E-Crane’s largest single customer with eight machines in operation – has bought yet another E-Crane this time for unloading limestone at its Clifty Creek Power Plant project near Madison Indiana. One unique project in Seattle,Washington sees two E-Cranes mounted on a single barge for Cal Portland to service a highway tunnel boring project involving loading and offloading on barges. Mark Osborne believes it is a first for the company. With over 70 E-Cranes in service in North and South America, no wonder E-Crane is currently looking to hire service technicians. As a side note, Mark Osborne told me that the 2 Seattle cranes will be delivered this year and that they were Series 1000 Model 7290 units. Acquisition Meanwhile, E-Crane made a move to help it secure its market lead by acquiring Polish steel fabrication company Famaba earlier in 2012. “With this acquisition we now have everything in hand and won’t have to outsource our steel structures,” says Tolhuizen. “It was a very important move for our future and gives us the ability to have readily available steel structures at excellent prices.” Famaba will operate as an independent E-Crane unit with 275 employees and depending on the market could lead to further expansion of E-Crane’s Adegem Belgian manufacturing facility. Conclusion While Mark Osborne would not give me exact figures in units or dollars, my estimate is 7 to 9 ECI-USA E-Crane units shipped in 2012 and 8 to 10 expected to ship this year.
15. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsExamples
16. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsExamples
17. ECI-USA Bulk Material Handling ProductsExamples American Electric Power’s Amos Plant on the Kanawha River in Charleston, W.Va. — the largest coal-powered electric plant east of the Mississippi — has installed an electric-powered 1500 B Series E-Crane to unload barges of limestone used in flue gas desulfurization (FGD). The high pedestal mounted E-Crane has 95-foot outreach, 15.4 U.S.-ton duty cycle capacity, and 17.1 U.S.-ton lift capacity. The machine is equipped with E-Crane’s Electronic Machine Management module (EMM) with screen display data for precise and efficient operator control.  E-Crane provided on-the-job training at the Amos Plant, as well as training in a simulator before the crane was delivered. Amos is the sixth AEP plant to install an E-Crane in the past decade. Installed in May 2011. AEP has now installed 8 units through 2012.