Part of Mak Kee Hong Kong team are celebrating the birthday of Mr. Lim, the founder of the company
Mak Kee International H.K. Limited can be traced back to the year 1957 when Mak Kee Company was established. Over the long history of over half a century, the company developed from its original business as a ship chandler to a dedicated manufacturer and supplier of wire rope, lifting and rigging products. Mak Kee is headquartered in Hong Kong and the company has been a market leader in the region for a long time. Mak Kee has branch offices, fabrication facilities or warehouses in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau. Mak Kee’s business is not limited to China, Hong Kong or Macau as many of the companies’ clients and partners span globally, from SE Asia, Europe, to South Africa.
Mak Kee’s lifting and rigging products are widely used in Hongkong International Terminals
From entrepôrt trade to manufacturing
In the 50s and 60s, Hong Kong was a major hub port in Asia. While Hong Kong’s economy was in its budding stage, with the geographic location being adjacent to mainland China and closed to SE Asia, Hong Kong became a hub port where entrepôrt trade was growing fast.
Mak Kee started out as a ship chandler, and over the years has changed its focus to become a manufacturer and supplier of wire ropes, lifting and rigging products.
Ship supplies and entrepôrt trade
1950s
- Established in 1957, Mak Kee started up as a ship chandler, purchasing used materials from ships and resold the products to users in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.
1970s
- Business shifted from reselling used materials to supplying new products such as wire ropes, lifting slings, chain and fittings, radio receivers and navigation products that are used on deck.
1980s
- As many manufacturers and suppliers emerged from Japan, Korea etc., Mak Kee’s supply network widened. Mak Kee participated in entrepôrt trade exporting mainland China’s metal products and fibre ropes to all over the world.
- In 1981, Mak Kee Co., Ltd. was established. The company purchased 300 sq. meters of office space. As a major investor, Mak Kee Logistics Co., Ltd. was established while this company still plays an active role in Hong Kong.
Manufacturing and expanding outside Hong Kong
1990s
- Mak Kee International H.K. Limited was established, marking the company’s direction of expanding business outside Hong Kong.
- In 1991, Mak Kee Guangzhou was established.
- In 1993, Mak Kee and Guizhou Wire Rope Group formed a joint venture, Guizhou Ganlian Metal Products Co., Ltd.
- In 1998, Mak Kee Shenzhen was established.
2000s
- In 2003, Mak Kee Macau and Mak kee Beijing were established.
- In 2004, Mak Kee Shanghai was established.
- In 2007, Mak Kee, Gustav Wolf Group and Jiangsu Shenwang Metal Products Co., Ltd formed a joint venture, Gustav Golf Wire Rope (Suzhou) Co.Ltd.
- In the same year, Mak Kee acquired more than 11,000 square meters of land in New Territories, Hong Kong and rented an additional 7,600 square meters of land from Hong Kong Government for building factory and warehouse.
- In April 2007, Mak Kee became the sole manufacturer for SLINGMAX® in the mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau regions.
- In 2008, Mak Kee developed NDT system introduced to the market.
2010s
- In 2012, Mak Kee obtained DNV2.7-1 Type Approval, offshore lifting sets according to this standard introduced to the market.
Mak Kee International is the authorized distributor for Van Beest’s Green Pin® and Excel®
Distributing high end products, manufacturing lifting and rigging products
Mak Kee is the long-time distributor for a number of top quality brands from all over the world, which include wire ropes by YOUNG HEUNG (S. Korea), TESAC (Japan), TOKYO (Japan), DIEPA (Germany), GUSTAV WOLF (Germany), TEUFELBERGER (Austria), ACCELOR MITTAL (France) and USHA MARTIN (India). Moreover, Mak Kee supplies GUIZHOU and LANGSHAN wire ropes from mainland China.
For lifting chains and fittings, Mak Kee brings in brands such as GUNNEBO (Sweden), PEWAG (Germany), YOKE (Taiwan), FRAM (Norway) and PWB (Australia).
Mak Kee also supplies VAN BEEST’s GREEN PIN® shackles and EXCEL® chain components, SLINGMAX web slings and UNITEX Dyneema® slings.
Other than being a distributor, Mak Kee has long time experience manufacturing lifting and rigging products. Mak Kee has fabrication facilities in Hong Kong, and has been setting up fabrication facilities and warehouses in a number of locations in mainland China. In 2012, Mak Kee obtained DNV2.7-1 Type Approval and can now supply Offshore Container Lifting Sets according to the standard.
Mak Kee has been collaborating with Gustav Wolf Group from Germany and Jiangsu Shenwang Metal Products Co., Ltd. from mainland China, to set up a joint venture, Gustav Wolf Wire Rope (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., specializing in manufacturing high quality Gustav Wolf wire ropes in China.
Mak Kee is the sole distributor and fabricator of SLINGMAX® in the China, Hong Kong and Macau regions, production was started in April 2007.
Invest to perfect manufacturing, complying with standards
Mak Kee values “safety, quality, and satisfaction” and put them into everyday practice. To ensure safety and quality of products, Mak Kee invests and brings in advanced machines and test beds. Mak Kee is equipped with two 4000-tons press machines, one 2000-ton and ten other press machines of various capacities.
For testing of lifting slings, Mak Kee is equipped with five test beds with testing capacity up to 500 tons. The testing of slings with loads from 50t to 600t can be achieved.
Mak Kee has been developing the Mak Kee NDT system for testing wire ropes and the system was introduced to the market in 2008. The latest system can test wire ropes from 6mm to 180mm. The Mak Kee NDT system is well received and widely used in everyday operations in many wire rope manufacturing plants. The system is highly portable and thus convenient to use in the fields for daily crane rope inspections, elevator rope inspections, wire rope inspections in ports or mines. Mak Kee NDT systems are used by clients such as KISWIRE, OTIS, GAYLIN, GOFORTH, Modern Terminal Limited (MTL), Hongkong International Terminals (HIT), ACT, and GUSTAV WOLF.
Mak Kee’s manufacturing and operations are based on management systems with worldwide recognition. Other than ISO9001:2008, ISO14001:2004 and OHSMS18001 standards, the company obtained international product type approvals such as DNV2.7-1. In 2012, Mak Kee’s products have product liability insurance coverage in place, which is a pioneering effort for the lifting industry in China.
Serving the needs of industries in Hong Kong
Mak Kee is based in Hong Kong. For over 50 years, the company expanded and became active in the mainland China and overseas markets. The company gained solid experience while taking an active role in the shaping up and development of the lifting and rigging sector in the regions. There is no other company in Hong Kong that understands the lifting and rigging products and the industry so thoroughly.
Hong Kong is the where the root of Mak Kee is. Mak Kee is well established in the local market and many recent projects in Hong Kong used products or services supplied by Mak Kee. The client list includes Hong Kong MTR, Hong Kong International Airport, HIT, New Government Offices Recreation Area, CLP, Tsing Ma Bridge, and Wanchai landfill project.
In mainland China, Mak Kee set up fabrication facilities in many different locations, bringing in the latest production methods, advanced equipment and management skills, which ensure the quality and safety of the products.
Passing on the skills
“Integrity, Cooperation, Responsibility and Innovation” are Mak Kee’s core values, and these values are shared by all the members at Mak Kee.
Mak Kee is a company with a long history of over 50 years. Many of the company’s staffs were working at Mak Kee since they are young. Over the years they have developed a sense of bond. At Mak Kee, the staffs are like in a family.
Another distinct point in Mak Kee’s company culture is “helping the young” rooted in Chinese culture. The elder staffs are eager to pass on the skills and knowledge to young members of the company. This enables the young members to grow and learn the experience in a short period of time. In recent years, Mak Kee has been expanding fast and many young people joined the company.
Over the years, Mak Kee has been bringing in advanced production methods and safety standards from overseas, and raised its standards in quality management and operations.
（From left）Ben Chiu, Managing Director of Wirop Industrial and Alfred Lam, Managing Director from Mak Kee International, met at OSEA 2012
Based in Hong Kong and expanding overseas
While focusing on doing well in the home market of Hong Kong, Mak Kee continues to expand in the mainland Chinese and SE Asian market.
Hong Kong is the perfect location for Mak Kee to expand into the worldwide market. The managing director of Mak Kee, Alfred Lam, believes that Mak Kee needs to do well in the home market to have the capital and experience to expand outside Hong Kong. He believes that there is much room for growth in Hong Kong.
At the same time, Mak Kee has been striving to deepen its presence in the mainland Chinese and SE Asian markets. Currently, Mak Kee has offices, fabrication facilities or warehouses in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau. Mak Kee has numerous locations in mainland China either manufacturing or stocking products such as wire ropes, lifting chain and components, web slings, blocks, crane components, container lashings, wire rope accessories, construction structures and safety products. Mak Kee actively markets these products and offer quality customer services so as to deepen its presence in mainland China.
Given the O&G sector being busy in the Asia Pacific region, the market is promising and Mak Kee has opened a liaison office in Singapore to promote the business in the nearby regions. Moreover, the opening up of new market in North Africa is on Mak Kee’s agenda.
With more than 50 years of history, Mak Kee has built a reputation and the company is well trusted by partners and users alike. In the future, Mak Kee targets high to raise its management standards, to innovate and produce lifting and rigging products that brings “safety, quality, and satisfaction” to customers around the world.
This article is published on LRW Magazine vol12, 2013.
