Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) will soon be able to handle the largest container vessels that will arrive in Australia after the recent delivery of two new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes.
VICT’s new automated cranes are the largest in Australia, with a lift height of 49 meters or 10 meters higher than the terminal’s five existing STS cranes.
Additionally, the 60-meter boom outreach is expected to enable the new cranes to operate 22 containers across a vessel. The existing cranes are also capable of handling 19 boxes across with their 50-meter boom outreach.
VICT’s acquisition of the new cranes is part of the AU$235 million (around US$150 million) expansion project that aims to increase the terminal’s capacity to 1.25 million TEUs. The ICTSI-operated terminal has also acquired six additional automated stacking cranes as part of the expansion, which will be completed by the end of the year.
“We are now ready to receive the largest vessels that will come to Australia as part of the upsizing strategy undertaken by all the major shipping lines in the world. This trend will lead to an increasing number of supersized vessels sailing into Phillips Bay and mooring at VICT – the only terminal in Melbourne capable of receiving them,” said Bruno Porchietto, VICT’s chief executive officer.
