In February 2015, Konecranes received an order from the Port of Houston Authority (Port Authority) in the U.S. for nine Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes. They will be shipped to the Port Authority’s Bayport Container Terminal in mid-2016. When these cranes are commissioned and working, the Port Authority will operate a total of 69 Konecranes RTGs, the company said in its press release.
The Port of Houston Authority is the largest container port in the Gulf of Mexico. It is responsible for eight cargo terminals and one cruise terminal along the Houston Ship Channel, and in 2014, its terminals handled more than 37 million tons of cargo. Konecranes delivered its first RTGs to the Port Authority in 2003.
The nine Konecranes RTGs on order are high-performance, 16-wheel RTGs with a lifting capacity of 40 LT, a stacking height of 1-over-5, and a stacking width of 6 plus truck lane wide. They will be powered by a primary Tier 4f diesel genset equipped with Konecranes’ Diesel Fuel Saver technology, and an auxiliary diesel genset.
The RTGs will also be equipped with Konecranes’ Active Load Control system, which prevents container sway and significantly improves container-handling performance. The smarter cabin, LED lights and a laser-based gantry anti-collision system complete the package of notable features that will be delivered with these high-performance container cranes.
“We are pleased to provide these new, state-of-the-art RTGs to the Port of Houston Authority,” says Jussi Suhonen, Sales Director, Region Americas, Konecranes/Port Cranes.
The first phase of the Bayport Terminal opened in January 2007 and the terminal is today the most modern and environmentally sound container terminal in the Gulf of Mexico. At full build-out, this state-of-the-art terminal will have a total of seven container ship berths with the capacity to handle 2.3 million TEUs a year.