Original news was published on 1 June, 2014

KALMAR, part of Cargotec, has won a contract to raise the height of three ship-to-shore (STS) cranes by six metres for Terminal de Contenidors de Barcelona in Spain to meet rising container traffic as more large ships call.

The work on the project is expected to begin in the third quarter with completion for all three cranes by year end.

The terminal has an annual handling capacity of 2.3 million TEU, making it a main logistics platforms in the Mediterranean region.

Its focus is the "development of intermodal container traffic throughout South Europe, where increasing its front line ship-to-shore crane capacity is an important strategic development for the business and its competitive positioning in the market", a company statement said.

The cranes, originally provided by another supplier, will be heightened by Kalmar's crane team in the region. The scope includes complex engineering works and coordination of the project through to completion.

Heightening an STS crane, which weighs up to 2,000 tonnes, involves the use of a specialist jacking device to insert heightening construction and raise the whole crane by six metres, reaching 47 metres under spreader.

Said Grup TCB boss Gonzalo Serrano: "With the arrival of larger vessels it was imperative that we found an effective solution to increase the handling capacity of our STS cranes and maintain maximum container throughput."


*NEWS SOURCE