The Polish deepwater container terminal DCT Gdansk has boosted its handling capabilities with the commissioning of three new Liebherr rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs), complementing the five cranes already in service. Training of new crane operators has also been completed and the terminal is ready to handle the increased volumes of business forecast when Maersk Line announced that it was switching its Polish hub from Gdynia to DCT Gdansk. That change took place on 1 December 2008.
The new RTGs are identical to those already in operation. They are capable of working a five-high container stack and span seven rows of containers plus a vehicle lane. With all eight cranes operational, DCT can now stack up to 20,000TEU in its import and export stacks.
According to DCT Gdansk’s General Manager, Fred Kamperman, the expanded RTG capability has boosted the terminal’s shiphandling capabilities:
“We have three Liebherr ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes and 650m of quay. When the cranes are used together to work a single ship, we have achieved handling rates of 40+ containers/crane hour. This has resulted in ships achieving maximum handling rates of 100 moves per hour.
“For us to sustain these rates consistently without slowing down the turnround times for road vehicles, whether working one ship with three cranes or two ships sharing the three cranes, we needed this extra RTG capacity.”
To cope with the anticipated increase in business, DCT Gdansk has also commissioned a number of other smaller machines including a reachstacker, terminal tractors and trailers, and some smaller lift trucks.
DCT Gdansk’s CEO, Boris Wenzel, says the terminal is now ready for the rise in traffic that the arrival of Maersk will bring:
“With the delivery of this new equipment, we are very confident of our ability to maintain the very high level of service our clients expect. Our vessel handling performance is already acknowledged to be amongst the best in the Baltic Sea region and we are confident that similar results will continue to be achieved when the number of vessel movements increases sharply this month (December).”
The new RTGs are identical to those already in operation. They are capable of working a five-high container stack and span seven rows of containers plus a vehicle lane. With all eight cranes operational, DCT can now stack up to 20,000TEU in its import and export stacks.
According to DCT Gdansk’s General Manager, Fred Kamperman, the expanded RTG capability has boosted the terminal’s shiphandling capabilities:
“We have three Liebherr ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes and 650m of quay. When the cranes are used together to work a single ship, we have achieved handling rates of 40+ containers/crane hour. This has resulted in ships achieving maximum handling rates of 100 moves per hour.
“For us to sustain these rates consistently without slowing down the turnround times for road vehicles, whether working one ship with three cranes or two ships sharing the three cranes, we needed this extra RTG capacity.”
To cope with the anticipated increase in business, DCT Gdansk has also commissioned a number of other smaller machines including a reachstacker, terminal tractors and trailers, and some smaller lift trucks.
DCT Gdansk’s CEO, Boris Wenzel, says the terminal is now ready for the rise in traffic that the arrival of Maersk will bring:
“With the delivery of this new equipment, we are very confident of our ability to maintain the very high level of service our clients expect. Our vessel handling performance is already acknowledged to be amongst the best in the Baltic Sea region and we are confident that similar results will continue to be achieved when the number of vessel movements increases sharply this month (December).”