Zhang was speaking to WorldCargo News at TOC Europe in Rotterdam. She took up her new post at Bromma in early June, joining from Kalmar China, where she worked since 2011, and before that she was with NOL/APL.

She stressed the importance of Bromma’s all-electric STS crane spreaders – Bromma calls G2 Plus a “game changer” – responsible materials sourcing and manufacturing processes in Ipoh.

Bromma sources steel from SSAB in Sweden and elsewhere in Northern Europe. One topic for the future is SSAB’s new fossil-free steel. Bromma is evaluating whether it can use this steel in its products, going forward.

The role of digitisation, going forward, is also key. Bromma started digitising its product services more than 10 years ago, and its latest Spreader Monitoring System (SMS 3), launched in 2020, is aimed at bringing clarity, transparency and ease of use to customers, so they can pinpoint problems with individual spreaders, and take appropriate action to maximise uptime.

SMS is a complete web-based system that provides customers with control over their entire spreader fleet operations. It is a data-driven monitoring tool, which provides an instant view of the health of every spreader in the fleet in real-time.

Zhang, who is based in Singapore, is the first woman to be appointed President of Bromma in its 61-year history, and the first from outside the Nordic Bloc. One observation that may perhaps be made is that her appointment was announced shortly after Cargotec announced it was pulling out of the port cranes market. Although Kalmar has not been a significant player in STS cranes for many years, it certainly has been in the yard crane market – RTGs, ARTGs and ASCs.

Bromma has always said that Chinese crane OEMs are its customers and its competitors. Maybe the removal of Kalmar from the crane market will make selling spreaders to them a bit less complicated? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RruQnBfQuhc&t=4s