the ground
Kalmar Industries’ USD10 million investment in a new assembly plant in Shanghai Lingang Industrial Park has been officially sealed at a signing ceremony held in Shanghai on 17 November, paving the way for construction work to begin. On hand to mark the occasion were the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Mr Yang Xiong, Vice Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal Government, Mr Zhang Hui Min and Finland Minister of Trade and Development, Ms Paula Lehtomaki. Other guests joining the ceremony included the CEO and Chairman of the Board of KONE Corporation, Antti Herlin, President & CEO of Kalmar Industries, Christer Granskog, and participants from a Finnish business delegation.
The Lingang economical industrial zone is situated next to Yang Shan Port – a 20 million TEU container terminal development project whose first berths will commence operations during 2005. The Lingang Industrial Park will be home to a number of heavy industrial companies that will complement and support many factories in Eastern China. Once the city master development plan has been fully implemented, Lingang itself will be home to one million inhabitants and will be the most modern satellite town in Shanghai.
Kalmar has had a strong presence in China since 1989 and is currently the number one supplier of reachstackers, terminal tractors and heavy container stackers to the country ports and terminals. Its significant market share in these sectors puts the company in an ideal position to penetrate the market further with other handling solutions, including rubber-tyred gantry cranes.
The new assembly plant will primarily serve the Asian container-handling equipment market, which is the fastest growing area for most Kalmar products. Shanghai is an optimal location for this purpose as it has become the most important port area in China and has major expansion plans, including the new Yang Shan facility.
The new 7,000m² factory and office buildings are located on a property that extends to approximately 50,000m². Here Kalmar Industries (Shanghai) Co Ltd will begin assembling terminal tractors by the end of 2005. Meanwhile, Kalmar Wai Gao Qiao facility will continue to be the base for the company service and support operations in the Northern China region.
Notes to editors:
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AThe caption for the photograph reads:
"Pictured at the signing ceremony in Shanghai are (front row, from left): President & CEO of Kalmar Industries, Mr Christer Granskog, Finland Ambassador in Beijing, Mr Benjamin Bassin, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of KONE Corporation, Mr Antti Herlin, Finland Minister of Trade and Development, Ms Paula Lehtomaki, and Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Mr Yang Xiong."
Kalmar is a global provider of heavy duty materials handling equipment and services to ports, intermodal traffic, terminals and demanding industrial customers. Kalmar focuses on supplying handling solutions that enable customers to operate with a high level of efficiency and reliability. Every fourth container or trailer transfer at terminals around the world is handled by a Kalmar machine.
Kalmar provides a large range of value added services such as maintenance contracts and fleet management. Manufacturing plants are situated in Sweden (as is the head office), in Finland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Malaysia, China and the USA.
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