Cargotec has developed a second generation of fully electrically-operated MacGregor side-rolling hatch covers. Development of MacGregor electric-drive side-rolling hatch covers started in 2001 to support the Japanese car industry’s ambition to make its supply chain as ‘green’ as possible. Our response to this challenge was to launch the ‘E-Roll’ side-rolling hatch cover system. E-Roll’s components and control system were essentially developed from scratch because similar systems for the marine and bulk carrier environments did not exist. After extensive tests and a lengthy component selection process, the first orders were signed in 2006. 38 ships using E-Roll systems are in service but this number is growing rapidly: another 21 shipsets of equipment are on order and there are about five more ‘in the pipeline’. As with all first-generation technology, improvements were needed. A development project focusing on the safety, technical limitations and cost of electric drives has now resulted in the launch of ‘MacRack’. Employing an enhanced control system and just one electric motor per hatch cover panel, the MacRack rack-and-pinion side-rolling hatch cover drive represents a significant advance in electric-drive technology. The first ship in a series of 47,500 dwt bulk carriers equipped with MacRack will enters service in autumn 2012.