Mitsubishi, Anupam Ind form joint venture for port cranes

Anupam Industries Ltd, a leading crane manufacturing firm has formed a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI), a diversified Japanese major to manufacture port cranes and material handling equipment (MHE) for domestic and global markets.

Anupam Industries will hold 51 per cent, while MHI's holding will be 49 per cent in the joint-venture firm, Anupam-MHI Industries Ltd. The two partners will invest equity capital of Rs 188 crore in the JV, which is aimed to cater to Indian as well as global markets for port cranes and MHE.

The company will have two manufacturing units at Anand and Mundra in Gujarat, with its head office to be located at Anand, informed Mehul Patel, MD of Anupam Industries and CEO of the JV company in a statement issued on Thursday.

The JV is expected to commence operations in the first half of 2012 with a targeted annual production of 60 units. Anupam-MHI will have total work force of around 2000 people.

The facility at Anand and Mundra would be the first and only of its kind in India and one of the very few in the world, the company informed. The first phase of capital expenditure for the JV has been finalised with a capital expenditure of Rs 280 crore and company expects Rs 800 crore worth of sales from the capacities. The new company will handle manufacturing, domestic marketing and after-sales service for port-use loading and unloading equipment, including container cranes and unloaders. MHI would look after global marketing and associated services through its vast global network. "Port crane and equipment market is expected to grow significantly in India, Middle East, Asian countries and Latin America. Going forward, leveraging MHI brand, reputation and global customer base with JV's cost competitive production base and aggressive marketing the JV expects a reasonable market share and position, globally," said Kanji Obata, chairman of Anupam-MHI Industries.

For the port cranes facility Anupam-MHI has arranged for 120,000 square metres of land at Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) along with a load out jetty for roll-on / roll-off for the completely erected and commissioned equipment on to the barge / vessel for onward dispatch to customers. To facilitate fabrication and manufacturing of cranes and MHE, an inland manufacturing facility is under construction over 300,000 square metres of land at Tarapur near Anand.

The joint-venture company has already bagged two orders amounting to Rs 100 crore for 3 units of ship-to-shore container handling cranes (RMQC) from JNPT and another significant order of around Rs 200 crore for 6 units of ship unloaders from Krishnapatnam Port, which is likely to order further 4 units of unloaders amounting to Rs 135 crore.

It may be mentioned here that in April 2010, MHI had agreed to license its crane and material handling equipment technology for large-scale ports, including container cranes, to Anupam Industries.