Noatum Terminals Malaga to add new container-handling machinery. Credit: Noatum Maritime.

Noatum Maritime terminal division Noatum Terminals is set to make a new investment at its facility in Malaga, Spain, to increase the number of harbour and yard container-handling machinery.

The expansion is a result of weeklong negotiations between different stakeholders, including the port authority, stevedores, ancillary services, terminal and several shipping companies.

It is expected to help Noatum Terminal Malaga to reach its target of handling around 200,000 containers annually.

As per the expansion plan, three Over Super Post Panamax cranes, manufactured by Noell, will be installed at the terminal next week.

The cranes have already been shipped on-board the ‘BigRoll Bering’ vessel that left the Port Said in Egypt on 14 June.

Similar to the cranes that left the port a year back, the new cranes will be deployed to handle container ships of up to 16,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity.

“In 2017, Noatum Terminal Malaga stored over 1,150,000t bulk cargo, handling 54,000 vehicles, and 73,000 TEUs.”

Noatum Maritime CEO Antonio Campoy said: “In 2017, Noatum Terminal Malaga stored over 1,150,000t bulk cargo, handling 54,000 vehicles, and 73,000 TEUs.

“Assuming that current competitiveness levels are maintained, these figures are expected to increase year-on-year for the 2018-2020 period.”

Noatum Terminals Malaga currently spreads across an area of 365,914m² and feature 723m of berthing line, 49,000m² of storage area, and 384 reefer plugins.

The port of Malaga is also continuing its space rearrangement activities in order to provide stevedoring and terminal-operator services, as well as bulk-cargo and Ro-Ro traffic handling services.

The port has already received its first bulk-cargo ships, using a new 6,000m² hall as reception warehouse for agro-food products.