IN THE DOCK
challenging. You need to make sure that your house is in order first.”
Growth strategy Together these strands form part of Konecranes’ growth plans for the Americas. “The growth strategy for port services is that the installed base of competitor equipment is large, so there is a lot of market share to be had. We will continue down that path.” Constantly innovating is also key.
“Konecranes in the past has really set the bar when it comes to innovative products because we invest a lot in R&D,” he adds. However, that can require managing customer expectations on lead times. “Anybody can throw out a product and hope it works. Customers can get frustrated as they want it now, but once they go through our process and see that rollout is really smooth, and we didn’t have to come out 12 times to fix it because we took the time to get it right on the front end. They really appreciate that as it is not a value you often find in the market.” Latin America remains a vital part of the
Konecranes is known for fostering a culture of developing its employees.
off, so we are excited about those opportunities,” he says. “It will give us an edge in the US for sure. I don’t know if it will be marketable outside of the US apart from perhaps Canada and Mexico. It is definitely exciting for us but there is a lot to learn as we go forwards.” However, both terminal operators and OEMs
are still seeking clarity from the government agencies on how to meet ‘Made in the USA’ mandates. “The federal government hasn’t been very clear on how to meet various guidelines. Our customers are still in a learning environment because of this. Our job is to help them work through that process at the same time as we are learning.”
Staying agile As tariffs demonstrate, an OEM has to be responsive to rapidly changing market dynamics. “Living through the last ten years or so of changes, my friends and I often say at what point are we going to have some normalcy in business? Whether it is Covid or wars or other geopolitical issues, we have to adapt. External chaos is almost expected at this point. Konecranes has done really well at building processes for us to mitigate those impacts. Everyone is experiencing it around the world, and a lot of American companies are going through the same issues. “Where we have been successful is building our business on three pillars: superior products, technology and service. Excellent
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customer service goes a long way, and we deliver a proven return on investment for our clients. But if you cannot be agile in business, when chaos erupts, you are going to have a really hard time in responding to it quickly.” Konecranes now offers service,
maintenance and repair solutions to American operators of many port crane brands. “That diversification began five or six years ago,” says Lane. “I wanted to get the core competencies in the team, starting with our own equipment. It was important to do this before we started tackling equipment from other manufacturers, which is more
plan. In this market, demonstrable ROI is a key selling point. “Once a customer has experienced our product, it is rare that they will move away. We have RTGs that are used on daily production schedules that are 30 years old. When you look at total ownership costs over 30 years and combine that with a company that never walks away from a problem, it is a compelling proposition. “Konecranes has never walked away,
regardless of the financial burden we will solve that problem. No customer likes to hit a speed bump. But knowing you can stand in front of a customer and say with confidence that Konecranes is behind me and will fix this problem, that is one of the reasons I have stayed with this company.”
Konecranes success is built on three pillars: superior products, technology and service.
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