en.Wedoany.com Reported - General Heavy Marine (GHM), a South African port and material handling equipment service provider, recently announced the local launch of China's SANY electric forklift series. Covering models from 2 to 8 tons, this series features a high-voltage lithium battery system, aiming to provide electric material handling solutions for logistics, warehousing, ports, and manufacturing enterprises.
Headquartered in the Jet Park area of Boksburg, Gauteng Province, near Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, GHM was founded in 2010. Its core business encompasses container handling equipment, forklifts, reach stackers, empty container handlers, telescopic handlers, and related industrial equipment services. The company has branches in Durban and Cape Town, with a service network covering Richards Bay, East London, Port Elizabeth, Saldanha Bay, Bloemfontein, and the Northern Cape, extending to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. Approximately 65% of GHM's employees are field service technicians, maintaining a parts inventory of over 50 million South African rand.
Founded in 1989, SANY Group's business spans excavation machinery, lifting machinery, concrete machinery, road machinery, port equipment, vehicles, and new energy equipment. The electric forklift series introduced by GHM targets logistics companies, warehouses, ports, manufacturing plants, and distribution centers, forming part of SANY's strategic layout in electrification, digitalization, and intelligence.
In terms of product configuration, the series offers a standard lift height starting from 3 meters, adaptable to various working conditions through different mast configurations. It employs a high-voltage lithium battery system, achieving a maximum travel speed exceeding 22 km/h and motor efficiency over 94%. Compared to traditional diesel or LPG forklifts, electric forklifts offer advantages in exhaust emissions, noise control, maintenance frequency, and energy costs.
Charging efficiency is a key user concern. This electric forklift series can be fully charged in approximately 1 hour, with a maximum runtime of about 8 hours under normal operating conditions. The lithium battery system reduces maintenance associated with traditional lead-acid batteries, helping to minimize downtime and improve overall fleet availability.
In terms of adaptability to complex working conditions, the series can operate in temperatures ranging from -30°C to 50°C, with a climbing ability exceeding 20%, suitable for logistics yards, manufacturing bases, ports, and heavy-duty industrial scenarios. For example, the SCP40C6 model has a rated lifting capacity of 4 tons, a standard lift height of 3 meters, a turning radius of 2450 mm, and is equipped with a 40.8 kWh battery system; the SCP50C6 increases the lifting capacity to 5 tons.
The series can integrate cloud connectivity features, supporting remote monitoring, fault diagnosis, OTA software upgrades, vehicle locking, driver identification, and operational status tracking. Some configurations also support a 360° vision system and active safety protection functions.
GHM's accumulated expertise in port and heavy material handling services provides support for the local sales, service, and spare parts supply of SANY electric forklifts. As South African enterprises increasingly focus on energy costs, environmental compliance, and operational efficiency, electric forklifts are becoming a key direction for industrial vehicle upgrades.
