The two manufacturing giants Konecranes and Cargotec owned Kalmar, united with a merger agreement earlier in October, have announced new deals with European ports.
First of all, Finnish Konecranes has agreed with Transford LLC to provide two eco-efficient Konecranes Gottwald Portal Harbour Cranes for their operations in Poti on the southwestern coast of Georgia by the Black Sea. With delivery and commissioning planned for the end of 2021, the cranes will handle both containers and bulk materials.
Transford was founded in 2010 as an affiliate of PACE Group, Georgia’s largest transportation company, to provide stevedoring and storage services at the Poti Sea Port.
The two new cranes will be Konecranes Gottwald Model 4 Portal Harbour Cranes, which are G HSK 4440 variants, giving a maximum lifting capacity of up to 100 tonnes, a strong lifting capacity curve and a working radius of up to 46m, with the outreach needed for container ships up to Panamax class, according to an announcement.
Its light, single-jib design and high working speed make it also highly productive and efficient for bulk cargo handling, said Konecranes.
“I’m pleased that Transford was convinced by our mobile harbour crane technology and our ability to adapt it to their specific requirements in a portal platform,” commented Hans-Juergen Schneider, regional sales manager for Konecranes port solutions.
In addition, Kalmar has inked a six-year Kalmar Care service agreement with its long-term customer Belfast Container Terminal Ltd (BCT), the largest box terminal in Northern Ireland, covering the supply of maintenance support personnel for Belfast Victoria Terminal 3 (VT3).
The order was booked in Cargotec’s 2020 fourth quarter order intake with the agreement coming into effect at the start of November 2020.
BCT is located in Belfast Harbour and operated under concession by Irish Continental Group. In January 2019, Kalmar won the tender to supply a complete AutoRTG (rubber tyred gantry) system to the terminal, comprising eight AutoRTGs operated with Kalmar remote-control (RC) desks. Kalmar has also supplied a similar system to BCT’s sister site in Dublin.
As part of the new service agreement, the Finnish manufacturer said it will supply maintenance support personnel with a 24/7 presence to secure the operational availability of all cargo-handling equipment at the VT3 terminal, including third-party machines. In addition to the Kalmar AutoRTGs, the equipment fleet at BCT includes empty container handlers, forklift trucks and ship-to-shore cranes.
