ZPMC

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited

Heavy lift vessel Zhen Hua 20 transports five ship-to-shore gantry cranes manufactured by ZPMC
Native name	上海振华重工(集团)股份有限公司
Company type	Subsidiary; State-owned enterprise
Traded as	SSE: 600320
Industry	Crane manufacturing
Founded	1992; 33 years ago (1992)
Headquarters	Shanghai , China
Area served	Global
Key people	Zhou Jichang (Chair) Guan Tongxian (Director)
Parent	China Communications Construction Company
Website	www.zpmc.com

A ZPMC rail mounted gantry crane was used in the construction of the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC, Chinese: 上海振华重工(集团)股份有限公司) is a Chinese state-owned engineering company and the world's largest manufacturer of cranes and large steel structures. In 2015 the company accounted for about 75% of the world-market share for container cranes.[1]

History

The company was founded in 1992. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company.[2] ZPMC is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It specializes in designing, manufacturing, erecting, commissioning, shipping in fully erected state, after-sales servicing and developing new port machinery products. Its main products include container cranes (QCs) (supplied eight for London Gateway),[3][4] rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs), bulk-material ship loaders and unloaders, bucket-wheel stackers and reclaimers, portal cranes, floating cranes engineering vessels and large steel bridge structures. Its cranes are found in 120 large ports around the globe.[1]

In 2009, the company rebranded itself as Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.[5]

In 2021, the Port of Piraeus received three ZPMC container cranes, doubling the lifting capabilities of the former container crane and equipped with a remote control system.[6]

In 2021, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believed to have discovered intelligence-gathering equipment on a cargo ship delivering ZPMC cranes to the Port of Baltimore.[7] China saw the report as paranoid.[8] Since the 2023 Chinese balloon incident, the ZPMC has come under suspicion by U.S. officials and lawmakers over their cranes suspected spying capabilities and ZPMC's participation in military-civil fusion.[8][9]

In February 2024, US officials announced a plan to have the United States Coast Guard oversee the cybersecurity of port cranes and invest in replacements of ZPMC cranes at US ports.[10] In March 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that US congressional investigators identified a communications device in ZPMC cranes not part of normal operations.[11] A probe by the United States House Committee on Homeland Security and the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party found that ZPMC pressured port operators to allow it remote access.[12]

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

The company is the fabricator of the new Bay Bridge located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the USA. Although the company had no previous experience in bridge construction, California officials selected it based on the advantages of "huge steel fabrication facilities, its large low-cost work force and its solid finance."[13] The project employed 3,000 workers who built a main bridge tower and completed 28 bridge decks.[13]

References

1. "Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZPMC) startet in Hamburg durch". www.nordic-market.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
2. "ZPMC Stake Transfer Circular" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
3. "Giant cranes arrive at new London Gateway port". Daily Telegraph. 3 March 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
4. "Record-breaking cranes lead the way to London Gateway". London Gateway. 1 February 2013. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
5. "ZPMC's name has been changed to Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., LTD. And communion meeting of on-line investors' development". Archived from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
6. "ZPMC delivers 'smart core' quay cranes to Piraeus Container Terminal". Port Technology International. 2021-08-16. Archived from the original on 2023-03-10. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
7. "Pentagon Sees Giant Cargo Cranes as Possible Chinese Spying Tools". The Wall Street Journal. 5 March 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
8. "'Trojan horse': Why US officials have raised alarm over giant Chinese cargo cranes". The Times of India. 2023-03-06. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 2023-03-10. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
9. Lubold, Gordon; Viswanatha, Aruna (2023-04-03). "Congress Seeks Details on Spying Risks From Chinese Cargo Cranes". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
10. "U.S. to Invest Billions to Replace China-Made Cranes at Nation's Ports". The Wall Street Journal. February 21, 2024. Archived from the original on 2024-02-22. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
11. Volz, Dustin. "Espionage Probe Finds Communications Device on Chinese Cranes at U.S. Ports". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
12. Volz, Dustin (September 12, 2024). "Chinese Cargo Cranes at U.S. Ports Pose Espionage Risk, Probe Finds". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
13. Barboza, David (25 June 2011). "Bridge Comes to San Francisco, With Made-in-China Label". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

External links

• Official website