P&O Ports has chosen Kalmar rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) to handle containers at its new Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal in New Orleans.
The 55-acre high-density terminal facility is being built by the Port of New Orleans on the former site of the port authority's Napoleon Avenue wharves A and B.The terminal is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2002 and will have a capacity of 360,000 metric tons of cargo per year.
The announcement closely follows delivery of eight RTGs to Global Terminal's facility at Bayonne, New Jersey, where an effort is underway to make better use of limited space by stacking containers higher and closer together.
According to Christer Granskog, President and CEO of Kalmar Industries in Ljungby, Sweden, the order continues the trend toward the use of RTGs in US ports:
"As container traffic in the US increases, ports are employing a "high-density" strategy to make the best possible use of the land they occupy.
"RTGs are an excellent tool for these facilities, making the best use of available space and increasing operational efficiency."
The four Kalmar RTGs that will work the new Napoleon Avenue Terminal can stack containers in blocks six high and five wide. They are also equipped with Kalmar's Smartrail technology to further stretch the capacity of the new facility.The Smartrail system uses the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) to precisely locate, retrieve and place containers within a port or terminal facility.
Smartrail is linked to the yard management system, automatically logging container locations and enabling RTGs to be automatically steered to container locations. Smartrail also eliminates the need for RTG operators to manually type in container position data.No matter whether the container has just arrived by ship or truck and is being stacked for the first time, or is being shuffled as the crane seeks a particular box, Smartrail verifies the container position automatically. The system greatly reduces ship and truck turnaround time and eliminates misplaced containers.
In addition, the four machines are equipped with a remote maintenance system that allows Kalmar service engineers to log on to the machines' electronic control systems via the Internet to perform diagnostics.
P&O Ports, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, owns and operates port facilities in North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and throughout the Pacific.The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the P&O Group of the UK.
Note to Editors:
Kalmar is a global provider of heavy duty materials handling equipment and services to ports, intermodal traffic, terminals and demanding industrial customers.
Kalmar focuses on supplying handling solutions that enable customers to operate with a high level of efficiency and reliability.Every fourth container or trailer transfer at terminals around the world is handled by a Kalmar machine.
Kalmar provides a large range of value added services such as maintenance contracts and fleet management.Nelcon and Ottawa complete the portfolio of the master brand Kalmar.
Manufacturing plants are situated in Sweden (as is the head office), in Finland, in the USA, in the Netherlands and in Estonia.
For further information
Please contact Kalmar Industries Communications Manager
Alternatively more information can be asked from David Cheslin at Kalmar's PR agency Dunelm Public Relations on tel: + 44 20 7480 0600 or