An Australian-designed Mobicon container handler has been sold to the US Navy and will be delivered in April next year.

Mobicon Australia Pty Ltd managing director and the container handler’s inventor Tom Schults, said Bath Iron Works, in the coastal state of Maine, USA, awarded Mobicon the contract as it was "the only container handler in the world that was light and versatile enough for the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship".

The Littoral Combat Ship is a new family of surface ships for the US Navy. It is a fast, highly manoeuverable, shallow-draft vessel that operates in coastal waters.

Schults said the container handler would transport equipment from the wharf to the ship’s mission bay.

Mobicon, based in Brisbane, Queensland, has operated since 1997.

Schults said the container handler had low wheel loads and was useful for working with container payloads on the deck of a ship.

"The Mobicon has very low axle loadings. In fact, the lowest in the world and this is crucial for handling on the decks of ships.

"We are proud that an Australian-designed container handler has been selected over other equipment available in the world market," Schults said.

The Mobicon weighed 12 tonnes empty and, as the weight was evenly spread across eight wheels, wheel loadings were less than six tonnes when carrying a 30-tonne container.

Schults said more than 50 Mobicon container handlers were operating in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the US. Customers included Australian Customs (five machines), Toll Holdings (four machines), Sadleirs Transport (three machines), and Simon National Carriers.

A company statement said the Mobicon container handler was available exclusively through Powerfleet, in the US, Mobicon Systems, in Europe, and Big Lift Trucks, in Durban, South Africa.(Forkliftaction.comNews#263).