Wakayama City in Japan sits in the shadow of its better-known northerly neighbour, Osaka, which is only an hour’s express train ride away.
It boasts a number of landmarks and attractions that bring in visitors from across Japan, Asia and the rest of the world – Wakayama Castle and Historical Centre, the busy Kuroshio Market, and the abandoned military forts and ruins scattered across the lush Tomogashima islands.
Wakayama City Marina is also a popular and picturesque destination and, throughout the year, the marina hosts a range of local and international vessels. Victorian-based business, Crib Point Engineering, recently equipped the marina with a new crane.
The 75-tonne straddle crane is capable of lifting yachts up to 75 ft long and transporting them to a hard stand area where they can be maintained and repaired.
The project is the latest in a series of similar builds for Crib Point Engineering, says the company’s part-owner and engineering director, Robert Banks.
The business works with a range of Australian and international clients including Nissan, Ford, Bosch, ExxonMobil, Rio Tinto Alcan and Downer and specialises in designing and manufacturing smaller scale and large scale equipment for the lifting, marine and automation industries.
“We’ve supplied a few cranes to marinas in Japan and in this particular case, the marina was being upgraded and they wanted a new machine,” he explains.
“In Japan, quality is given a high priority and we have worked with a number of clients there. More broadly, we’ve been building cranes for more than 40 years for clients across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.”
The crane was designed and manufactured at Crib Point Engineering’s base in Hastings.
“Most of the marina cranes are a variation on a theme and we can adjust the design to suit any special requirements from the customer,” says Robert.
The Wakayama City Marina crane had to be powered by a diesel engine that met stringent emissions rating rules specified by the Japanese government. Japan has some of the world’s strictest rules around emissions and so Robert and his team had to source an engine that was powerful, reliable and would meet the emissions regulations.
After researching what was available, Robert contacted DEUTZ Australia and ordered a TCD 3.6 Power Pack T4 emission engine.
“Over time, Japan has stepped up rules to meet emissions ratings and authorities now require a Tier 4 final emissions rating engine and that’s why we ended up with a DEUTZ engine,” says Robert.
After some delays due to COVID-19 disrupting supply chains worldwide, the engine arrived at Crib Point Engineering in the New Year.
“As soon as we got the engine, we got the crane running and shipped it out and then we flew over to Japan to install it. Everyone was very happy to finally see it finished and on site,” says Robert.