Felixstowe invests in new cranes

An additional four rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs) have been delivered to the Port of Felixstowe for its Trinity Terminal, reports Schednet.com

The new cranes were manufactured by Fantuzzi Reggiane in Sicily and will be capable of stacking containers one over five high, and straddling seven wide plus a roadway.

The port has a total order of eight gantry cranes, with the remainder to arrive in July. They follow an order for ten RTGs and two ship-to-shore gantry cranes (SSGCs) placed with ZPMC of Shanghai in September 2000.

The new 16 wheel machines will replace four four-wheel Paceco machines at the southern end of Trinity Terminal, increasing stacking height from three to five containers, and boosting the terminal’s capacity by 60,000 TEU per year.

The Port of Felixstowe has applied for permission to extend the quay at Trinity Terminal by a further 270 metres. If approved, the new quay will be operational in 2003, boosting the capacity of the UK’s largest container port by 500,000 TEU to well over three million TEU each year.