Maritime cranes

There was generally a normalisation on the global maritime goods handling market in 2023 in terms of raw material costs and freight rates. Although the global market volume for mobile harbour cranes contracted slightly, Liebherr managed to achieve an increase in revenue in this product area and further strengthen its position as a global market leader. There was a particularly positive trend on the offshore cranes market. Liebherr saw an increase in revenue here and in the two areas of ship cranes and container cranes. Revenue growth was generated in customer service in 2023 through an extensive range of services, spare parts and other service products for the machine fleet that is in operation around the world.

A breakdown of revenue by region reveals particularly positive growth in Central and South America: Liebherr achieved a significant increase in revenue here, although the region remains the smallest market for the maritime cranes product segment. The revenue development was also encouraging in North America, the non-EU countries, the EU, and Asia and Oceania. In the EU and the Asia and Oceania regions, Liebherr had experienced a decline in revenue in the previous year, but has now successfully recovered. Growth was driven in particular by Germany, Poland and Indonesia. There was a downturn in business in the Africa, Near and Middle East region.

Alternative drives and automation were key topics in the maritime cranes product segment in the business year. Liebherr is setting new standards in electrification with the first fully electric transshipment crane – the CBG 500 E – and the first fully electric heavy-lift ship crane – the LS 800 E. Furthermore, all rubber tyre gantry cranes ordered in 2023 were either fully electric or hybrid. With these products, Liebherr is responding to customer demand for more environmentally friendly solutions. Alongside alternative drives, there is also a particular focus on automation. For instance, the latest series of mobile harbour cranes is equipped with the newly developed Master V control system and state-of-the-art sensor technology. These technologies provide the basis for integrating future assistance and partial automation systems and enabling communication for individual components.

In offshore cranes, the Liebherr Intelligent Maintenance System (LiMain) enables semi-automated maintenance procedures, where the level of automation can be individually adjusted. The system is predominantly used on unmanned offshore platforms in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea areas.

The development and research focus on automation and alternative drive concepts ensures that growing customer needs are being met on the maritime goods handling market.

As Liebherr has started the year with a strong order situation in the maritime cranes product segment, further revenue growth is expected for 2024 too.