The Port of Virginia has ordered three Konecranes Rail-Mounted Gantry (RMG) cranes for its Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) facility, after the successful deployment of four Konecranes RMGs of a similar design at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG).
The order was booked in November 2021, and the equipment is expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.
Port of Virginia and Konecranes are longstanding partners with 116 Konecranes Automated RMG (ARMG) cranes working at the port’s NIT and VIG container terminals.
“The Port of Virginia has grown and flourished with Konecranes’ container handling technology,” confirmed Rich Ceci, senior vice president at Technology and Projects at VIG. “We are always finding new ways to improve our container handling operations, using everything at our disposal including the possibilities that Konecranes technology gives us,” he added.
The new machines will work in a very similar way to the current Konecranes RMGs, loading and unloading trains and terminal trucks to serve the port’s customers in the Midwest and Ohio Valley, according to a statement.
The new Konecranes RMGs will be remotely operated from a control center, so they will not have cabins. The3 cranes will lift containers 1-over-2 high, handling double-stacked trains, with a lifting height of 12.2m (40’), a span of 23.5m (77’), and an outreach of 13m (42’ 8’’).
In January 2018, construction began on a US$452 million terminal optimisation project at NIT that increased the terminal’s capacity by 46% within the same footprint. NIT has direct, on-dock rail access to Norfolk Southern’s Heartland Corridor, allowing second-day double-stack service to inland markets. The terminal also gives access to CSX Intermodal.
This latest order of equipment from Konecranes continues the port’s investment in its terminals. The RMGs are part of an US$80 million expansion of the Central Rail Yard at NIT, which when complete will be able to handle more than 600,000 lifts annually.
