SEATTLE, USA -- Shipping company Alaskan Marine Line (AML) has made a special request for four Kaldnes container handlers from Swedish company Svetruck, which now owns Kaldnes, but no longer manufactures the container handlers.
Kaldnes, which had a manufacturing-licensing deal with Caterpillar before Caterpillar formed a joint venture with Mitsubishi in the mid-1990s, was taken over by Svetruck in January. Kaldnes had continued selling its products through Caterpillar dealers until the takeover.
The Kaldnes brand is now only used for Kaldnes's heavy log handlers which are made by Kaldnes-Scandlog and marketed under the Kaldnes-Scandlog brand.
Kaldnes-Scandlog manager Jan-Erik Kirkeberg said AML had approached Svetruck this year, asking specifically for Kaldnes machines, which Svetruck had agreed to make.
Mr Kirkeberg said he believed Svetruck would not continue production of the Kaldnes line, but AML "must have offered the right price".
Mr Kirkeberg was a long-time production manager for Kaldnes, and continues with Kaldnes-Scandlog providing parts supply and technical support for Kaldnes machines around the world.
"There are some 1000 machines still out there, so there is more than enough work to keep me busy," he told Forkliftaction.com.
Mr Kirkeberg said the AML machines would be constructed on the Svetruck production line in Ljungby, Sweden. The Kaldnes-Scandlog team had supplied "some steel work, and the cabin", which was shipped from Norway.
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