Spotlight Cargotec: Digitizing Cargo’s Journey from City to Port to Doorstep

February 09, 2023
By Knowledge Leaders Team in Knowledge Leaders

Finland’s Cargotec is a world leader in intelligent cargo handling. With a mission to keep goods moving swiftly from cities to ports to doorsteps, this firm deploys digital technology to smooth logistics flow and reduce waste.

Kalmar, credit: Cargotec

Cargotec’s origins go back more than 100 years when Kalmar, its largest business, was founded in the Netherlands to build cranes. Today Kalmar is the industry leader in port automation and energy-efficient cargo handling, contributing about 46 percent of sales to Cargotec’s business. The firm’s two other businesses include Hiab (38 percent of sales) the world leader in trucks, cranes and fleets for road load handing, and MacGregor (17 percent of sales), providing maritime products, services and solutions to move cargo at sea.

MacGregor, credit: Cargotec

This Knowledge Leader has a long-running commitment to R&D. In 2021, the firm used the proceeds from the sale of its Navis business to invest in R&D, electrification, digitization, robotics, and automation—a project it expects to transform every industry Cargotec serves. This builds on a 2016 initiative, when it launched the Cargotec IoT (Internet of Things) Cloud platform to house its digital solutions and one that has has grown steadily as new products connect to it. Last year in R&D, the firm announced a project to co-develop fossil-free steel for the cargo handing industry.

Hiab, credit: Cargotec

As an engineering company, Cargotec is especially interested in the creation and distribution of the company’s knowledge, defined as all that information, technological innovation, and expertise Cargotec has accumulated in cargo and load handling solutions and procedures. This knowledge is held within one of the firm’s greatest resources—its employees. To that end, Cargotec has created what it calls a “knowledge infrastructure,” devoted to distributing that knowledge among employees, customers, and research partners.

As of 12/31/22, Cargotec was held in the Knowledge Leaders Strategy.

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