Rethinking STS crane procurement

In an exclusive interview with WorldCargo News Stafford Crane Group (SCG) President Patrick Stafford discussed the company’s plans to enter the STS crane market in 2025.

As previously reported, in August SCG announced it intends to manufacture Buy America Build America (BABA) compliant cranes in the US. Since then, Patrick Stafford has been busy preparing to put SCG’s plan into action.

Today US ports are used to taking delivery of fully erect cranes from China, or in some cases cranes shipped part big from Europe and assembled on site. Building BABA compliant cranes in the US using this model will be a difficult balancing act. For a crane that is manufactured in the US, final delivery on a specialist vessel would be subject to the Jones Act provisions of the US Shipping Act. This means the cargo would have to be carried on a US built and flagged vessel, operated by a US crew.

Patrick Stafford said the need for BABA compliant cranes means the industry needs to re-think assumptions around both crane design and transportation. Here he believes the tower crane industry has valuable lessons to offer.  Very large tower cranes typically have a boom length of around 85m and a lifting capacity that can be over 50t. The cranes are designed to be moved between different job sites without requiring specialist transportation equipment and are therefore assembled using bolted sections.

Container cranes today are, however, made with mostly fully welded structures. Patrick Stafford declined to provide details on the extent to which SCG is proposing to use other methods in its STS design. He did say, however, that the industry needs to re-think STS crane design and embrace innovation.

It is a myth, Patrick Stafford continued, that the duty cycle of a tower crane is not as demanding as a container crane. SCG has Tower Cranes that are operating for 22 hour a day, and the structures are subject to much higher flexing forces than a container crane with four legs. Different design details and construction methods mean the structure is subject to different maintenance and inspection requirements, but there is no reason that these cannot be managed in a port environment, he said.

At the same time the benefits for the industry could be significant. At the moment STS cranes are bespoke products that are seldom moved between terminals because the cost is too high and modifications that might be required, such as a gauge change, require extensive engineering. More flexible STS cranes that can be adapted to different facilities could open up new opportunities for both equipment relocation and lease financing, which is something SCG intends to pursue.

The biggest advantage of a different crane design, Stafford believes, is that it paves the way for more terminals to access a BABA compliant product – for which they can access grant funding. Patrick Stafford said that, unlike other companies that also intend to offer BABA compliant cranes, SCG is planning to use US-made steel and US fabrication (not just assembly). SCG calculates it can reach 55% US content for an STS crane through the steel component alone, enabling terminal operators to specify drives and components from other suppliers including TMEIC, ABB and Siemens as they do today.

At this point SCG is now finalising its STS crane design at its Milano Total Crane Design Hub office in Milan, Italy. It is intended that the first crane will be built in Portugal at the facility SCG acquired when it purchased Soima Cranes in 2021. Patrick Stafford said this will enable SCG to test and refine the design and production process before production gets underway in the US.

SCG is not disclosing where in the US it will fabricate cranes at this point. Patrick Stafford said he is confident the skilled labour required is available in more than one location. At this point the company is targeting producing six STS cranes in 2026, and double that number the following year.

The cost of US steel and labour mean that a US-made crane is going to be significantly more expensive than the $12-$14m range ports are paying for a Chinese-made crane today. As has been noted in WorldCargo News previously tenders for a US-made STS crane for the US military produced bids around the US$34m mark. Patrick Stafford said he believes SCG will be pricing lower than this, but, more importantly, the lowest price is no longer the main consideration.

The US Government, Stafford stressed, has decided that for reasons of national security US ports, including military facilities, need to have the option to purchase US-made cranes. This requirement comes first, and the industry needs to accept that viable US crane manufacturing will require challenging the status quo about how cranes are designed, manufactured and delivered today.