APM Terminals has unveiled plans to make additional investments in its terminal in Port Elizabeth, US to $200m in order to facilitate handling of ultra-large container ships (ULCS).
The new investment will see APM Terminals purchase four next-generation ship-to-shore (STS) cranes to accommodate ULCS at the port.
An expanded gate complex will also be build with an aim to improve the trucker experience, and container handling equipment will be upgraded to ensure safer and more fuel efficient operations.
The company announced its plan to invest $70m in its Port Elizabeth terminal in August last year, with the aim of enabling the facility to handle larger vessels travelling through the expanded Panama Canal.
It is also expected that ULCSs will come through the port's newly heightened Bayonne Bridge.
APM Terminals North America president Wim Lagaay said: “We are connecting people, lifting global trade and addressing liner trends to make the port even better for the future.
“Our goal is to make APM Terminals Port Elizabeth safer, easier to use and faster for our trucker community, more productive for our shipping line clients and more reliable for our clients’ supply chains expectations.
“These operational and infrastructure improvements are designed to keep APM Terminals Port Elizabeth at the forefront of the New York / New Jersey harbour by being the container terminal of choice to work with by our many clients and partners.”
The company also noted that the newly announced investment would help increase the terminals’ capacity from current 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) to 2.3 million TEU.
The expanded berths are expected to be able to accommodate three ULCS vessels at the same time.
Image: APM Terminals’ facility in Port Elizabeth, US. Photo: courtesy of APM Terminals.
