APM Terminals (APMT) has ordered 26 automated rail-mounted gantry (ARMG) cranes and two rail cranes from Austrian manufacturer Kuenz for its Rotterdam Maasvlakte II terminal in the Netherlands.
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Kuenz is expected to deliver the equipment between 2013 and 2014 to Maasvlakte II, which is scheduled to open in November 2014 and is claimed to be APMT’s most advanced automated container terminal.
APM Terminals managing director of Maasvlakte II Frank Tazelaar said the company is ordering these cranes to achieve higher standard of safety, productivity, innovation, automation and eco-friendliness in operation.
"These ARMGs will be the high performance workhorses of the terminal – capable of supporting the scale of container stack activity associated with multiple large container ships in port," Tazelaar said.
The automated rail-mounted gantry cranes will lift and stow containers from automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that shuttle containers between the berth and rail terminal and will also use a fully automated system to safely load and unload a container on a truck chassis.
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By GlobalDataEarlier in March this year, APM Terminals had deployed 36 lift automated guided vehicles (Lift AGVs), which will have a top speed of 22kph with a maximum payload of 60t, built by Gottwald Port Technology at the Maasvlakte II in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
APMT’s Maasvlakte II will feature an eight-track intermodal terminal to haul high volume intermodal cargo to the European hinterland.
The two rail cranes from Kuenz will be deployed to load and unload cargo on the trains and will be operated by a driver in the cabin but much of the activity will be automated.
Kuenz has selected ABB as the supplier for the electrical and automation system for both the crane types.
In May this year, the Port of Rotterdam won the final part of a €900m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund a 20% expansion.
Funds will be used to finance part of a €3bn land reclamation project and to build new container and specialist facilities at Maasvlakte II, expanding the port area from 10,000 hectares to 12,000 hectares.
According to EIB, the expansion of port facilities provided by Maasvlakte II will give a boost to economic activity in both the Netherlands and elsewhere in north-western Europe.
Construction of Maasvlakte II started in 2008 and upon completion the number of ships moving from Rotterdam port is expected to increase from 31,000 in 2006 to about 57,000 in 2033.
Maasvlakte II will be a fully automated container terminal with a capacity of 2.35m teus of container handling capacity.
Image: Kuenz will deliver the equipment in 2013 and 2014 to the APMT Rotterdam Maasvlakte II terminal, which is expected to open in November 2014. Photo: The Port of Rotterdam
