Commercial Port of Vladivostok ("VMTP", part of FESCO Transportation Group) put into operation two new rail mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) to handle containers, FESCO says in a press release.
The new cranes manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd (ZPMC) were installed in the container terminal of VMTP. They have a lifting capacity of 45 tons, a span width of 63 meters each and can handle 28 rows of containers and stacks of 5 containers high. Installation of the cranes took place from October,1 to October, 11. For this purpose, VMTP and ZPMC built temporary rail tracks on the berth territory. Afterwards, the specialized vessel pumped in water into ballast tanks for levelling the vessel to the berth wall, and the cranes "moved" to the container terminal area. From October, 12 to December, 14, start-up and commissioning works were carried out: final installation, power supply connection and equipment setup. Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostekhnadzor) issued authorization to put the cranes into operation.
The ZPMC cranes joined four RMGs being already in operation at the container terminal. The new equipment allows to increase the speed of handling of the growing number of containers by 15-20%.
The cranes were purchased as part of the program of modernization of the Port's production capacities. During 2018, in the framework of this programme, the park of cargo handling equipment of VMTP was joined by 16 equipment units: terminal tractors, reachstackers, and forklifts with lifting capacity from 2.5 to 35 tons. In total, there are 46 cranes and 150 mechanical equipment units in the transshipment park of VMTP .