Despite major fluctuations in the global economy in 2016, Vietnam, the breathtakingly beautiful Southeast Asian nation on the South China Sea, is experiencing a 6% per year growth of its economy.
Tower crane manufacturer Linden Comansa says over the last five years, there have certainly been some ups and down but the outlook for the tower crane market in Vietnam looks strong for the next three to five years.
Linden Comansa’s communication and marketing manager, Mariano Echávarri, says the company enjoyed success from 2009, when the construction sector was active and its cranes were used on a number of high profile projects, including two significant high-rise buildings – the 195-metre high Saigon One Tower in Ho Chi Minh City and the Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Vietnam.
However, the withdrawal of foreign investment around mid-2013, accompanied by a strong devaluation of the currency, then adversely affected all types of construction, including high-rise building.
Foreign investment returned in 2015, and the economy started to recover, with the construction sector reflecting this return of confidence. Construction activity is now quite strong and, aided by a stable financial and political climate, and Echávarri foresees steady growth for the next few years.
High-rise building activity is robust, triggered by both an increase in foreign investment and local economic growth. China, Japan, South Korea and France are key investors in the Vietnamese construction sector.
Linden Comansa in Vietnam
Echávarri notes that with most investors, developers and contractors with large residential, industrial and infrastructure projects being large foreign companies, the preference is for a reliable, high quality tower crane brand.
Linden Comansa offers two brands, Linden Comansa and Comansa CM, and these are both popular as, according to Echávarri, Linden Comansa is arguably the only top tier manufacturer to offer only flat top cranes in its horizontal jib range.
For customers, these have the advantage of speed and ease of assembly and disassembly, fewer tower sections required, and fewer conflicts with overlapping cranes compared to cranes with pendant lines.
Currently, the demand appears to be for buildings of 25 to 30 floors and around 150 metres in height.
For these, contractors prefer cranes with a maximum capacity of between five and 10 tonnes, with the Comansa CM models 11 CM 132 (6t), 11 CM 160 (8t) and 16 CM 185 (10t) being the most popular.
Linden Comansa’s agent in Vietnam, Anh Vu Industrial Equipment Co, recently commenced a rental business that has quickly built to 12 Comansa CM cranes. This complements its traditional sales, service, maintenance and customer support activities.
Made in Vietnam
Meanwhile, construction equipment manufacturer Doosan Vina, the Vietnamese subsidiary of South Korea’s Doosan Corporation says demand for its “Made in Vietnam” cranes is on the rise.
In May, Doosan Vina shipped its first three rail-mounted gantry cranes to India’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals. The machines are part of an order of 12 cranes placed by the Indian company.
Each crane weighs 1400t and is 84m high, 144m long and 26m wide. The cranes are designed to handle 65t containers and Doosan Vina will export a further three cranes in September, followed by the remaining six in 2018 and 2019.
Doosan Vina’s communications and public relations head, Dale Gerstenslager said crane manufacturing on the scale that Doosan Vina is involved in is relatively new in Vietnam, having only commenced operations in 2009. Since then, the company has produced and shipped 68 mega cargo cranes.
“We are working on nine more like the ones shipped to India and we recently signed another contract to produce cargo container cranes for another global customer,” Gerstenslager said.
“The crane business for “Made in Vietnam” cranes is on the rise from both a domestic and international perspective because the Doosan brand is recognised worldwide for its uncompromising commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Domestically we’ve produced cranes for several ports in Vietnam and as Vietnam continues to be one of the best performing economies in the world, this is a trend that is likely to extend for the foreseeable future.”
Gerstenslager acknowledged that Doosan is operating in a highly competitive marketplace but says its certification by international accreditation agencies, production safety, quality control and record keeping procedures are just some of the things that set the company apart. Its long 120-odd-year history is another factor.
“We are well known by the major port operators as a company that they can depend on to produce dependable cranes, deliver what they order and provide equipment that is going to keep the cargo at their ports moving and their bottom-line healthy,” Gerstenslager added.
This article was originally published in the July issue of Cranes and Lifting.