Konecranes acquires Kocks

Konecranes rubber tyred gantry cranes operating in a container port

Industrial and port crane manufacturing group Konecranes has acquired German port crane company Kocks Kranbau.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, gives Finland-based Konecranes access to new European and global customers, the company said.

Kocks Kranbau GmbH was formed in 2023 after its parent company Kocks Ardelt Kranbau GmbH, was declared insolvent (see note below). The port and shipyard crane maker and service provider has bases in Bremen, Hamburg and Oberhausen.

Annual net sales at Kocks are €10 to 12 million and the company turns a profit, Konecranes reported. There are around 60 employees and they will transfer to Konecranes. The large installed base of Kocks Ardelt Kranbau cranes are in Germany, the rest of Europe and further afield around the world. Konecranes will now have access to service these cranes.

Commenting on the acquisition Paolo Dazi, Konecranes senior vice president port services, said, “I am confident Kocks Kranbau’s expertise and customer proximity, when combined with Konecranes Port Services’ widespread presence, industry knowledge and technology, will strengthen our position and offering as global services provider in the port sector.”

Note: After insolvency Kocks Ardelt Kranbau was taken over on 1 August 2023 by Uwe Grünhagen, managing partner. That company is now Ardelt Kranbau GmbH, a manufacturer of port cranes. “With the takeover of the new company, know-how was secured in the form of employees and product rights to slewing cranes and feeder servers. We continue to guarantee our valued customers high-quality, durable and highly reliable crane systems, accompanied by first-class service and engineering,” according to Ardelt Kranbau.

The many guises of Ardelt

What is now Ardelt Kranbau was started by Robert Ardelt in 1902. It was a technical engineering office, before it became Robert Ardelt & Söhne Maschinenfabrik. In 1932 it developed a patented double jib pantograph type luffing system for slewing port cranes. in 1948 it was renamed VEB Kranbau Eberswalde and then it was part of Takraf in the 1970s. After German reunification the company traded under a series of names: Vulkan Kocks GmbH,  KE Kranbau Eberswalde, Kirow Ardelt GmbH and finally Kocks Ardelt Kranbau GmbH.