THE Romanian port of Constantza has placed a $35m order for three ship-to-shore cranes and other lifting equipment with Japanese suppliers Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Tomen Corp.

The order was backed by a Japanese government loan to the port development project and it is the first time that MHI has sold container cranes to Europe.

To be delivered in mid 2003, the order includes three Post-Panamax ship-to-shore gantry cranes, eight rubber tyred gantry cranes, and two rail-mounted gantry cranes for loading and unloading containers from rail cars.