Tsuji Heavy Industries has become the world’s largest manufacturer of hatch covers and has an impressive list of products for the maritime industry. The company also specialises in design and manufacture of marine cargo handling equipment. Tsuji manufactures its own designs, putting 50 years of experience in all products.

The company is owned and operated by the Tsuji family – now second and third generation. Masahiro Tsuji, Chairman of the Group, writes in a foreword: “A while ago I came across an old calligraphy, written by my father in his typical powerful style. It read in Chinese characters: ‘The Road is Infinite’. I often wonder what my father was thinking when he jotted down those words, which has become our credo since.” Today Tsuji has 800 employees located mostly in Sasebo, Japan, and another 2,000 in Shanghai, where complete bulk carriers are being built.
“We have three news items at Tsuji,” says Fulco Vrooland, Vice President and member of the executive board. “That is about electric driven hatch covers, electric driven deck crane and shipbuilding in Zhangjiagang City some 150 kilometres up the Yangtze River from Shanghai.”
Vrooland, a Dutch national, is joined by Izumi Ohsugi, managing director, hatch cover/ro-ro division, and Kosaku Kawasaki, manager business department. “The market is for the time being very good and we have full order books,” says Vrooland. “We have concentrated on bulk carriers as well as cranes and hatch covers for this segment. We are number one globally in terms of market share on deck cranes, number two on hatch covers. I am quite proud to say that whatever we put on paper we build here, and the comments from our customers are very positive about this. We provide simple and easy-to-use equipment and have already introduced products to the market that others may still be working on,” says Vrooland.

Electric driven hatch covers
Tsuji has developed a fully electric-driven side-rolling type hatch cover with a patent pending. A full-scale model has been built and was extensively tested at Sasebo during the spring of 2006. This new type of hatch covers is to be used on Panamax and Capesize bulk carriers, offering some very distinct advantages to shipowners: Less maintenance compared to hydraulic-driven hatch covers with less energy consumption and no risk of pollution due to leakage from hydraulic systems, ensuring that it is environmentally friendly. For the yards the advantages can be summarised as follows: No heavy and long piping and flushing works for hydraulic systems and less outfitting due to simple design without hydraulic jacks or cylinders.
The main features of the system include jacking up/down and opening/ closing done by only one electric motor per hold, running wheel is attached to a turntable lever, hinged on the hatch cover side. By pushing the hinged lever with a cam fixed on the hatch cover side as well, the hatch cover is lifted up. The cam is operated by a pulling arm connected to the towing chain of the hatch cover. Selecting adequate arm length, a heavy hatch cover can be lifted up by the relatively small driving winch. The locator, which keeps the hatch cover in proper position during the voyage, also prevents the hatch cover from running before completion of jacking-up. Once jacking up is completed, the hatch cover is operated through the pulling force of the towing chain.

Electric driven deck crane – CRANE-e
Tsuji has introduced the electric driven deck, CRANE-e. The company developed the new inverter-controlled electric driven standard 36-ton lifting capacity deck crane based on long experience with electric gantry cranes and four-rope heavy duty cranes. The CRANE-e reduces energy consumption by about 40 per cent. Furthermore, by eliminating hydraulics, the system is simplified and the new crane is virtually maintenance-free, offering 98 per cent less maintenance costs.
The need to address environmental issues in the shipbuilding and shipping industry has become obvious, and thus lower emissions of harmful CO2, NOx and SOx are welcome improvements to environmentally conscious shipowners and charterers. Acceleration and deceleration is very smooth and precise. Other advantages include less sound pollution and vibration. The electric system is also preferable when working in very cold or very hot environments. Compared to traditional electro-hydraulic cranes, initial purchasing costs are higher, but reduced long-time running costs make this technically superior electric crane a good investment. Based on 1,500 running hours per year, total running cost reduction of 20 per cent can be achieved over a ten-year period.

Shipbuilding
In 2002 Tsuji opened a wholly-owned large-scale facility in China, Tsuji Heavy Industries (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd. The Zhangjiagang factory covers 330,000 square metres of land located on the Yangtze River close to Shanghai. The yard employs 2,000 Chinese workers with a Japanese management team.
In addition to having the world’s largest single-line hatch cover output, the company started producing ‘megablock’ hull sections such as engine rooms, superstructures and funnel casing as a subcontractor for major Japanese shipbuilders. With the average capacity having reached up to 8,000 tons of steel monthly, the company was looking for further expansion opportunities. The chance came in 2006 when the Chinese government granted Tsuji the permission to build commercial vessels. There are currently 30 bulk carriers of 30,000 dwt on order for delivery 2008–2010. The ships will be built on land without a dry dock or slipway, using the Air Pad System (APS) with skid rail, now widely used in Korean and Chinese shipyards. Tsuji will continue to expand the yard to meet the increasing demand.
Tsuji chairman Masahiro Tsuji and the company management have proven that the road is indeed ‘infinite’.
“We have worked hard and passionately to achieve our goals,” says Tsuji, “and will continue to do so. Our vision is to be an ever-dynamic enterprise filled with bright and creative minds, to meet the challenges and limitless possibilities of this century. Over the years, being innovative has become our tradition, and it is through these roots that we stand strong and ready for a bold future.”

Date: 04 February 2008