The Slovenian port ordered the cranes as part of an investment to reach an annual throughput of 1.3 million TEUs at its container terminal by 2020.
Slovenia’s Port of Koper ordered 11 cranes as part of an investment to reach an annual throughput of 1.3 million TEUs at its container terminal by 2020.
Over the next five years, the port will invest 235 million euros ($250.8 million) in the container terminal to maintain its place as the largest container terminal in the Adriatic in terms of annual container throughput, the port said.
The port’s throughput for the first nine months of 2015 stood at 590,270 TEUs, a 16 percent increase from the corresponding period in 2014.
The two new ship-to-shore (STS) super post-Panamax container cranes will allow the Port of Koper to accommodate more capacity. The STS cranes, which will start operations in June 2017, will be equipped to handle 14,000-TEU containerships. They will have an outreach of 24 containers wide and 11 high above deck.
The Port of Koper’s four post-Panamax cranes that are currently operational can handle 8,000-TEU containerships and have an outreach of 18 containers wide and nine high above deck.
In addition, two of the other cranes the port will acquire are rail-mounted gantry cranes for container loading and unloading to wagons.
Extension of the two current tracks at the terminal and construction of three new tracks has already began.
The order also included seven new electric rubber-tired gantry cranes, which will be operational at the container terminal at the end of 2016.
The Port of Koper, which is located in southwest Slovenia along the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, was established in 1957 and features 12 specialized terminals.