We have now published our 2010 annual report, which is available for download from our website:
Cavotec Annual Report

The overall picture for the year was positive in almost all our main market areas, especially in our Airports unit. Furthermore, the Group is well positioned to grow steadily in the coming years.

Total revenue for the Group stood at EUR 144.9 million, up from EUR 125.2 million in 2009.

Revenue increased in all our market units in 2010, with the exception of Ports & Maritime, which was down 13.0 per cent, to EUR 30.8 million. This reflects the extraordinary downturn experienced in the sector as investment struggled to recover following the financial crisis. The unit retains however a positive outlook for the future, ideally placed as a supplier of advanced technologies – such as our automated mooring and shore-to-ship power systems – with a respected history of performance from service and applications already in widespread use around the world.

Total revenue for the Airports unit jumped 39.2 per cent, to EUR 37.7 million, with revenue in the Middle East up more than EUR 10 million. As economic growth returns to its upward trend, we forecast continued substantial growth for this segment in the years ahead, especially in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil, and across the Middle East, the Far East and South East Asia.

Revenue for our Mining & Tunnelling segment was up 55.6 per cent, to EUR 21.1 million. The improvement took place in all but one of our markets, and was initially driven by increased consumption of products for industrial production, extending later in the year to include capital-investment goods and major investment projects. The market for underground mines and tunnelling is forecast to continue expanding rapidly in the years ahead, and with it, the need for systems that ensure the safe supply of electrical power.

Total revenue growth for our General Industry unit was 12.5 per cent, amounting to EUR 55.3 million. General Industry remains our single largest unit, accounting for 38.1 per cent of total revenue in 2010. Our largest market for General Industry, by a substantial margin, was Europe and Africa, where revenue increased to EUR 31.2 million, up from EUR 29.4 million in the previous year.

You can find all our recent annual, interim and quarterly reports here.

Fourth Cavotec Shore Power Application Opens in Sweden

Cavotec’s shore-to-ship power technology has seen further success with the opening of our fourth ‘cold ironing’ application in Sweden – this time at the port of Verkö, in Karlskrona, on the south eastern coast of the country.

The unit at Verkö will supply the Stena Vision passenger ferry with electrical power for the duration of the vessel’s port calls, thus substantially reducing emissions and noise pollution – two issues that have caused concern among local residents.

This application follows the opening of the largest shore power application in the Nordic region at the Port of Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden in January.

Vessels require power while docked to run substantial on-board services ranging from lighting, telecommunications and food preparation, to mooring and cargo handling. Currently, the majority of vessels meet these power demands by running their auxiliary engines that emit pollutants into port areas.

The opening of the application attracted widespread interest in Swedish media, with Swedish regional television, Swedish radio and the local Sydöstran newspaper all covering the event. Click on the respective links in the previous sentence to read and hear the reports – although please note that all this material is in Swedish.

Cavotec shore power unit at Karlskrona Baltic Port

Cavotec Partners

Working with partners in the industry, Cavotec has developed shore power technologies at ports across Northern Europe, such as Gothenburg, and in Canada and the US.
See the following links for further information:

Shore Power Live at the Port of Gothenburg

The Port of Los Angeles – Greening and Growing

Shore Power Section of the Cavotec website

Cavotec will be exhibiting at one of Asia’s premier conferences and exhibitions for the ports, shipping and terminal industries, TOC Asia 2011, that gets underway on March 15.

We will also be delivering a paper entitled ‘Electrification: a cost effective and environmental friendly solution in ports’, at the event’s Innovation Forum on March 16.

Cavotec ship-based shore power system at the Port of Los Angeles

Ports & maritime technologies

Cavotec will be showcasing it’s range of port maritime technologies that includes automated mooring systems and shore power systems, Panzerbelt cable protection systems, crane controllers, marine propulsion slip rings, power chains and power connectors, radio remote control systems, motorised cable reels, spring driven electric cable reels and steel chains.

The Cavotec stand is A 26.

In his presentation, Cavotec’s Group Market Unit Manager Ports & Maritime, Luciano Corbetta, will describe the potential economic and environmental benefits of introducing shore power or ‘cold ironing’ to power vessels when in port.

Working with partners in the industry, Cavotec has developed shore power technologies at ports maritime across Northern Europe, such as Gothenburg, and in Canada and the US:

Shore Power Live at the Port of Gothenburg

The Port of Los Angeles – Greening and Growing

As shipping lines explore ways of operating more sustainably and more efficiently, harnessing the power of the wind out at sea is attracting renewed interest.

Switzerland-based global shipping group Cargill has announced plans with SkySails to install a 320m² kite on a 25,000 to 30,000 deadweight tonne-vessel, making it the largest vessel propelled by a kite to date. The system is scheduled to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2012. You can find full details of the project at Cargill’s news centre.

The patented system uses kites to assist ship propulsion that, depending on prevailing wind conditions, can reduce bunker fuel consumption by up to 35 per cent, according to SkySails. The company claims that in optimal conditions, fuel use can temporarily be cut by up to 50 per cent.

The 474-TEU Beluga SkySails

The technology was first used on an industrial scale in January 2008 on the 474-TEU Beluga SkySails container ship (pictured).

Computers control the position of the kites to ensure the maximum amount of wind is captured at all times, thereby reducing conventional engine use as much as possible. The kites fly at between 100 to 420 metres and because the system is automated, ships’ crews involvement is also limited.

As regulations on vessel emissions are tightened, wind power could by one of many ways for the shipping industry to reduce emissions and fuel costs, even by modest amounts.