RANA INDUSTRITERMINAL IN MO I RANA, NORWAY

RANA INDUSTRITERMINAL IN MO I RANA, NORWAY

The industrial park of Mo i Rana, North Norway, just south of the Arctic Circle is home to Rana Industriterminal, one of Norway’s busiest ports. In June 2021 the company welcomed a new workhorse, a Mantsinen 200 material handler, and two years later they were the first company to take into use the Mantsinen Automatic Quick Coupler, MCA. Today, this combination has increased handling capacity dramatically – with some vessels almost doubling the handling rate.

Rana Industriterminal (RIT) works on loading steel products for the local steel mill. The work requires precision and battling the elements, as weather conditions at the port are often challenging with rain, sleet, snow, ice, and hard winds. Project Manager and Crane Instructor Lars Dahlberg has been part of the Mantsinen ride from the very beginning.

– We met in Antwerpen in order to see a Mantsinen 300. We wanted to see if we could use it for loading rebars, something that hasn’t really been done traditionally. That’s how it all started.

Solving challenges together

Earlier on, RIT had relied on cable cranes. The new solution was a Mantsinen 200 on rails.

– It was a lot easier to learn to operate a Mantsinen than a traditional crane. And it has great comfort, it’s easy to drive and operate. But we had some challenges with multiple changes of lifting attachments. The hydraulic connections had to be connected manually, and especially in difficult weather it was a slow and painstaking exercise, Dahlberg explains.

– The customer told us from the very start that they are very happy with the machine as such. They think the machine is brilliant, which is good to hear, however, that’s not good enough for us. When we got the new Mantsinen Automatic Quick Coupler ready for the market, we immediately thought about Mo i Rana. It would fit their needs perfectly, Area Sales Director Anders Johansson from Mantsinen Group explains.

Johansson promised that RIT would be the very first client to receive the Automatic Quick Coupler, and it was warmly welcomed by the machine operators at Mo i Rana.

– They are very excited about the MCA. We save time, because we need to change attachments often It’s safer for the workers too – we don’t need to climb up and down to connect the hoses. Mantsinen has dealt very well with our challenges. We have a great companionship, Dahlberg confirms.

“We have a working professional relationship and we experience that we get help when we need it. We think that this is a very constructive cooperation.“

Alf Øverli, general manager of Rana Industriterminal

Handling capacity up by 50%

While some machine operators were skeptical at first, they quickly became familiar with the Mantsinen 200 having experienced the improved performance. And it does: material handling speed has increased by 50%, sometimes even 100%.

– First they were against it but now everybody wants to operate the crane – they just love it. It’s more precise and it’s easier for a new crane operator to learn. It’s powerful and fast, it’s a VERY good machine! Dahlberg insists.

“For me at the office, I think looking at the efficiency figures is the best part of the day!“

Alf Øverli, general manager of Rana Industriterminal

– Maybe it looked a bit small compared to the large cable cranes that we had. But in terms of capacity, it is big! For discharging bulk cargo we have almost doubled the capacity compared to a cable crane of similar size. So this is a great improvement. And we also think that over time we will get some more capacity with break bulk handling, Øverli explains.

Future plans include continuing to increase efficiency – after all, the red beast and its extensions offer a lot of possibilities for optimization.

– We have here a machine we can use for everything we do today. But we also have a machine we can use to solve new challenges, that we don’t even know yet, Dahlberg explains.

Luckily, if and when those challenges appear, the Mantsinen and Mo i Rana teams will be working closely together to figure out the best solution.