Baltic Container Terminal Ltd (BCT) in Gdynia, Poland is investing heavily to double its capacity from 400,000 TEU (tonne equivalent units) to 800,000 TEU a year.
From Konecranes VLC Corporation, it has ordered a Euro 4.5 million ship-to-shore (STS) container crane, to be delivered in June 2005.
From Kalmar it has ordered four new 5+1 wide rubber tyred gantry cranes. It has also contracted Kalmar to help it increase the height of its existing eight Kalmar RTGs.
Baltycki Terminal Kontenerowy Sp. Z.o.o. in Gdynia is the leading container terminal in Poland and one of the largest in the Baltic region. BCT is owned by International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), a Philippine based international container terminal operating company.
The new STS container crane is of Panamax size with a lifting capacity of 45t and an outreach of 38.5m. Konecranes director, container cranes, Mika Mahlberg said that Konecranes was the market leading supplier of STS container cranes in the Baltic region. ‘We have delivered practically every STS container crane for this region since early 1970s.’
Over the last five years, Konecranes VLC has sold 11 similar STS cranes of Panamax size among others to the ports of Oulu (Finland), Gdynia (Poland), St Petersburg (Russia) and Kotka (Finland).
The RTG modification programme is extensive as the machines will be dismantled and then re-assembled with the new parts to raise their lifting capacity from 1 over 3 to 1 over 5 containers. Said Kari Ronkainen, Kalmar general manager, parts and projects: ‘Finding the right approach required a lot of technical research and planning for Kalmar. It is a solution that will be valuable for many terminals where physical grounds cannot be extended and the only possible direction for growth is upwards. By extending the container stacking height, capacity can be increased considerably.’
Kalmar will supply the technical calculations, electricity and PLC programmes and documentation as well as the materials needed for the rebuild. The customer will perform the installation under Kalmar’s supervision. The work begins at Gdynia in late May and should be completed by October.
