Leading Tauranga engineering firm Page Macrae Engineering is again an award winner; this time for its innovative bulk cargo grabs.

Mike Lehan with the award winning grab design.

At the annual Australian Bulk Handling Awards held in Brisbane this month, the company's bulk grab division PM Grabs was voted the supreme winner in the tightly contested Innovative Technology category.

PM Grabs' latest diesel-hydraulic grabs were entered in the category that included entries across a wide range of specialist bulk cargo handling equipment. Operated via remote control by a crane operator, the grabs are designed for discharging large volumes of bulk material from ship holds. Capable of carrying up to 20 tonne of material at a time, their ability to move over 200 tonne an hour is valuable to stevedores and shipping operators facing bills of thousands of dollars a day for idle ships.

The 600 million tonne per annum Australian cargo industry is among the largest in the world and its bulk sector includes iron ore, coal and bauxite exports – all growing rapidly with Chinese hunger for more bulk minerals.

PM Grabs has upped its presence in the market in recent years, gaining new clients in Brisbane and Darwin. More recently the company has supplied the diesel-hydraulic grabs to one of the world's largest nickel projects, Koniambo in New Caledonia. A key requirement of the US$3 billion project was strict control over the environmental impact of the mining and discharge activity.

Page Macrae general manager Mike Lehan says customers, including ports and stevedores, are all under increasing pressure to reduce their operations' environmental footprint without compromising their productivity.

'The design of the grabs that appealed to the judges was the manner in which we managed to reduce the noise and dust emissions, whilst incorporating some innovative features that make these grabs class leaders for discharge productivity,” he says.

Dust reduction features include specially designed bucket seals to reduce spillage, and a two stage opening process to reduce losses in windy conditions. The ability to slide the grab's engine out quickly for maintenance and repairs keeps down time to a minimum and an on board diagnostic system makes fault finding simple while also providing data on engine performance.

Mike says the win is a 'huge accolade” for the Tauranga company which employs over 150 staff, helping lift its profile in the intensely competitive Australian market.

'The award is highly sought after and we faced some very tough Aussie competition, and of course it was great to beat them on their home ground.”

The awards are sponsored by Australian cargo magazine Bulk Handling Review. Editor and judge for the awards Charles MacDonald says the Innovative Technology section is the most highly contested part of the awards, and this year was no exception.

'The judges were impressed by the innovative features on PM Grabs' range of diesel-hydraulic grabs and the great potential for the range in Australia and internationally. The novel features on the grabs should minimise downtime while reducing product run out and spillage.”

Page Macrae has recently developed a range of bulk discharge hoppers designed to work with the grabs and has also completed sales of these to bulk stevedore operations in Australia.

'We will be ramping up our presence in Australia faster now we have a good foothold there, and are exploring options in the Northern Hemisphere.”