Stevedore DP World has taken delivery of four new rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) for its Port Botany operations.
They are part of a longstanding equipment upgrade for the company’s Sydney container terminal and come both as competitor Patrick indicates that it will upgrade some of its wharf hardware and in the wake of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission noting that national stevedore productivity had levelled out.
They also precede the arrival of a third stevedore, Hutchison Port Holdings, next year.
By Rob McKay | November 11, 2011
Stevedore DP World has taken delivery of four new rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) for its Port Botany operations.
They are part of a longstanding equipment upgrade for the company’s Sydney container terminal and come both as competitor Patrick indicates that it will upgrade some of its wharf hardware and in the wake of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission noting that national
stevedore productivity had levelled out.
They also precede the arrival of a third stevedore, Hutchison Port Holdings, next year.
“These new RTGs, valued at more than $7.5 million, are fitted with the latest control technology giving improved operational speeds which will deliver increased efficiency at the Port Botany terminal,” DP World, ANZ Region Managing Director Ganesh Raj says.
“They will also complement the 20 RTGs already operating in the Port Botany terminal.”
The cranes are eight-wheeled, diesel-electric Kalmar E-One RTGs with a rated load capacity of 40 tonnes.
They incorporate fuel efficient variable speed generator (VSG) engines, UniQ diagnostics tools, automatic steering and a container position verification system.
DP World has also invested in intermodal hardware, according to DP World Sydney General Manager Mark Bellears.
“In addition to the RTGs and Quay Cranes, DP World has purchased two new reach stackers for greater rail efficiency plus two new dedicated forklifts for empty container handling at the Port Botany terminal,” Bellears says.
The arrival coincides with the anniversary of one of the company’s more troubled chapters at Port Botany.
Almost exactly a year ago, problems with the new Navis Sparc N4 terminal operating system prompted the NSW branch of the Australian Trucking Association to criticise the stevedore heavily over the system’s implementation and shipowner group Shipping Australia to demand former Sydney General Manager James Mather close the Port Botany terminal.
Mather left last November 11 and criticism of the Sydney terminal has been muted this year.