Largest Truck Crane company chooses local partner

MANILA, Philippines - Cargotec CHS Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, the largest manufacturer of various cranes, hoists and lifting equipment in Europe, recently chose leading truck body builder Centro Manufacturing Corporation to be its local distributor in the Philippines. This is line with their plan to make the Philippines a key expansion hub in Asia. Cargotec manufactures and sells such world-renowned cargo handling equipment as the Hiab cranes, the Zepro tailgate lifts and column lifts and Multilift hooklifts.

Marcel Kappe, Cargotec Director for Industrial Business for Asia said that, “With the Philippine economy poised for an upswing, Cargotec is bullish about entering the Philippine market and establishing a foothold in time for the prospective boom.”

A study conducted by First Metro Investments Corp. and the University of Asia and the Pacific showed that the Philippine economy is poised for a rebound and may grow by 4.5% in the first quarter of 2010. This will be fueled partly by an expected increase in remittances by 4 to 6% in the same period.

Data from the National Statistics Office also showed that in November 2009, exports rose by 5.7% and by 23.6% in December. This bigger volume of exportation is expected to continue growing in the first quarter of this year.

“When the expected boom comes, there will be a need to move a lot more cargoes from the piers and airports to the various factories, then from there, to the various shipment points such as dealers, outlets and end-users. In each aspect of these cargo movements, there is the need not only for speed but also for safety, convenience, efficiency and economy. All these, Cargotec products, as installed on Centro-made truck bodies and platforms, can deliver,” Kappe adds.   

PT Yong, Hiab/Zepro Managing Director says that it was imperative for Hiab/Zepro to choose a reliable and credible local business partner. “Hiab/Zepro is known throughout the world for the highest quality cranes and lifts coupled with the best service support. This standard must be maintained so we chose Centro, which we found to have a very good reputation for servicing and for customer care. We were impressed by their ISO quality orientation and their advanced-technology truck body building capability.”

For his part, Centro president Raphael T. Juan hails the coming of Cargotec to the Philippines. “We are happy that Cargotec has chosen us to be their business partner in the Philippines. We are confident that we will be able to provide world-class products and services that the country is clamoring for. Cargotec products may be new to us but these are already widely used in other countries where there is a surge in logistical, manufacturing and infrastructure activities. Their products are available for a wide range of hoisting, moving, loading and unloading applications,” says Juan.

Truck-mounted Hiab cranes are used for picking up heavy loads then either moving them, stacking them or loading them to another truck for transporting. It can be moved around and its effective range can be increased by using multiple extension arms. These cranes are perfect for construction, port operations, industrial and commercial uses involving heavy loads.

The Hiab crane can also be used as a man lifter for servicing elevated installations like overhead telephone lines, communication lines, electrical cables and cable network lines. It could also be used for simply cutting branches of trees, overhead construction works and even for rescue operations. This is ideal for utility and construction companies.

The Zepro tailgate and column lifts are the answers to the entrepreneur’s need for loading and unloading heavy and fragile cargoes through the rear opening of a truck. This is a hydraulically-operated retrofit kit that can be added on easily to the rear of a truck, ranging from the small pickup trucks and utility vehicles to the large cargo trucks. This will drastically reduce manpower, will not overtax the manpower available, will reduce cargo loading and unloading time and will ensure the safety of fragile cargoes that could otherwise be damaged by difficult and rough handling. This can even be added on to an ambulance or a private vehicle for handicapped persons in wheelchairs.

The truck-mounted Multilift hooklifts are perfect for handling cargoes in bins. A single truck could thus handle multiple bins: a bin can be transported while the next bin is being filled up and the previous bin is being emptied at the other end. This is perfect for construction, agricultural, waste management, quarrying and mining applications where cargoes in bulk need to be moved faster without any downtime or waiting.

Centro for its part will locally market, sell and fabricate the bins, truck rear bodies, platforms and accessories needed by Cargotec equipment. Cargotec has just completed a seminar for Centro staff on product knowledge, applications, installation, maintenance and repairs to ensure the buyers’ unhampered use of its products.