Reach stacker attachments are among Tec Container's product offering.

Tec Container Asia Pacific is encouraged by its marketing efforts in the Pacific after winning tenders for its equipment from Fiji and Vanuatu.

Director Roger Cannon tells Forkliftaction.com News that the company he founded with co-director Ian Ogilvie has been working hard since its appointment as Tec Container SA's exclusive distributor for the Asia Pacific in February.

"[The] Australian market is pretty hard at the moment, to be honest. Our marketing to the Australian cargo handling industry has received a lot of interest and we have been quoting, but the fact is that the industry is slow.

"The Pacific is different. There is a lot happening and the only way to market is to get out there and see what their particular requirements are. We are doing that and the maritime conference in Port Moresby was a great experience."

Tec Container Asia Pacific has won a EUR55,000 (AUD83,600) contract to supply four 20 ft. and two 40 ft. semi-automatic spreaders to Fiji Ports Terminals Ltd. It will also supply a BA-110 C (45) reachstacker attachment that converts a reachstacker into a multi-purpose cargo handler to Ifira Port Development and Services Co Ltd in Vanuatu. The AUD36,000 order will be supplied early next year. All goods are manufactured in Spain.

"The main benefit from attending the conference was the information gained (from) so many different ports reporting on the type of business they were conducting and future works proposed. The information is really helpful in gaining a better understanding of all the different types of operations throughout the
Pacific," Cannon explains.

Cannon and Ogilvie recently attended the 40th Pacific Maritime Alliance in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and delivered a presentation on safety and productivity.

"Our experience is that shippers and insurance companies are looking for much higher standards on the wharves," Cannon says. "There is a large range of products that are really excellent value for smaller Pacific Island ports and we have had success in selling into the Solomons, Vanuatu and Fiji."

Preferring not to disclose the company's trading figures in the Pacific, Cannon says the product that has been most successful in the region is the BA-110C (45), which converts a reachstacker to a general cargo handler.

In February, Cannon and Ogilvie flew to Madrid to meet Tec Container SA's directors and engineering staff, and toured the manufacturing plant.

While Tec Container Asia Pacific will supply all of the manufacturer's products, it is specifically focused on cargo handling.

However, Cannon says his company has sold equipment to BAE Systems Maritime Australia that is building ships for the Australian Navy. "The items purchased were from the Naval division of Tec Container Spain and consisted of tie-down test hooks. It was not a big order."

Cannon adds that his company has received "an enormous amount of support" from the technical experts in Spain and "we have a couple of major projects with Australian miners hoping to design equipment that will fundamentally improve certain aspects of mining activities.

"[It's] confidential, but it involves designing spreader bars to work with large scale reachstackers."

While Tec Container products are not new to Australia, they have not been marketed extensively.

Tec Container SA, founded in 1976 in Madrid, Spain, designs and manufactures cargo securing and lifting equipment. It employs 50 people at its headquarters and branches in Italy, Portugal and Belgium. It exports to 70 countries and has two factories in industrial areas surrounding Madrid, with a combined manufacturing space of 5,000 sqm.