ORDERS from Morocco, Argentina and Iran helped boost turnover at Killarney based Liebherr Container Cranes by 8 per cent to £30 million in 1995. Liebherr makes dockside cranes it is currently constructing one for B&I in Dublin.

The firm builds between 6 and 10 container cranes each year, at a cost of between £2 million and £4 million each.

The last two years have been good for Liebherr. The firm is project oriented and business depends on landing big contracts a single deal can be worth up to £5 million. Liebherr itself erects cranes on site and fits out the ports. These cranes are all designed, manufactured and marketed in Ireland. At present the firm's Irish staff are working in Iran, in the United Arab Emirates and in Buenos Aires.

The company has always had a wide spread of customers. Liebherr cranes are in place in New Zealand, the Phillipines and throughout the Middle East. In recent years the firm has been very successful in South America, particularly in Argentina. None of its products come "off the shelf". Every crane is tailor made, according to the requirements of the individual port.

Liebherr has a "satisfactory" market share, according to Mr Klaus Noelke, director of Liebherr Container Cranes. Most of the company's output exported but Mr Noelke claims that growth is difficult, because of the Irish system of export credit insurance. He says that this incentive often seems more geared towards the beef trade.

"We are constantly losing deals because our competitors can avail of cheap finance under export credit schemes run by their governments," Mr Noelke said. "The Japanese have access to 4 per cent finance with no pay back required over an extended initial period The Chinese, too, are increasingly selling into Europe."

Liebherr's strongest competitor in any market is always the national supplier. The next biggest threat comes from the low cost countries, such as Korea, China and the South American nations. Liebherr has in the past tried to form alliances with some of these competitors. "We found we were just artificially creating long term competition," said Mr Noelke.

Liebherr has 290 employees based in Killarney, almost all of whom are Irish. There have only been 8 foreigners employed in the plant's 25 year history. These workers are continuously employed. Liebherr prefers not to employ contract staff.

Up to ten years ago, Liebherr was a world leader in the manufacture of feeder service cranes, for vessels plying the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the Mediterranean. Vessels have now become bigger and bigger.

Mr Noelke for sees a demand for cranes which would service big "fourth generation" vessels, which will constantly travel around the world in a shuttle system, similar to trams. "Bigger cranes and ports will mean high investment costs," said Mr Noelke.

Liebherr's location in Killarney was chosen in 1958, when cranes only weighed a few tonnes. They now weigh between 600 and 700 tonnes each. The firm exports through the port of Fenit, 26 miles away. Kerry County Council has assisted in straightening some of the infrastructure roads, though there are still sometimes problems. Some of the crane sections which must be transported are 50 metres long.

Liebherr no longer builds construction "tower" cranes, which were made in Ireland between 1973 and 1975. It is a very competitive market and in a viable operation very large numbers of cranes would need to be made each year, certainly more than 600.

Based in Switzerland, Liebherr International is a family owned company. It has 14,500 employees and a turnover of more than £1.6 billion.