RTG article

With a diverse fleet of 18 rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) supplied by Fantuzzi, Paceco and Konecranes, Valencia-based TCV Stevedoring is well placed to comment on common RTG ‘issues’.

This apparently random mixture of equipment providers – the result of the original merger of three port companies in 1999-2000 to form TCV – gives the company a broad base to draw opinion on.

“Previously, terminals on this site used both reachstackers and RTGs, but we have consolidated the business around a mostly RTG-based solution, because it best fitted the terminal layout,” explains managing director José Luis Alabau to Port Strategy.

Some of the original equipment inherited from the merger of the original stevedoring companies remains in service, while the most recent RTGs were sourced from Konecranes, which has supplied equipment to several other companies in the TCB Group to which TCV nowadays belongs.

“It is difficult to say how long some of this older equipment will last. In all honesty, the life span of an RTG is a function of how intensively it is used and how well it is maintained, although I would calculate that they could remain in service for at least 20 years,” says Mr Alabau.

While many equipment manufacturers would like their customers to buy into an outsourced maintenance programme for their yard equipment, Spanish terminal operators insist that they get better value for money by undertaking this work themselves.

Although maintenance costs are not that high, they remain significant, says Mr Alabau. In Valencia, this work is retained in house and undertaken by crews with around-the-clock availability. This is vital to ensure that any breakdowns are fixed immediately. Scheduled preventative maintenance programmes are also in place and help keep the number of breakdowns to an absolute minimum.

“From time to time, we do require assistance from third-party providers for particular tasks or during peak periods. However, it would make little sense to outsource all maintenance on the RTGs, because we operate such a large fleet that it works out cheaper to retain our own trained workforce. Even when these employees are not dealing with breakdowns, they have enough work on their hands in undertaking routine maintenance. Furthermore, breakdowns can be fixed faster by using our own people.”

Mr Alabau notes that the more modern the RTG, the more likely it is to incorporate a greater degree of electronic equipment. While this helps enormously in terms of maintenance, it also means having to recruit highly qualified technicians that understand how this state-of-the-art equipment works.

TCV has eschewed the deployment of all-electric units; all those in the terminal are diesel-driven. This was determined by the structure of the lanes in the terminal, which makes it faster and more comfortable to deploy diesel rather than electric units, especially when switching between operating areas.

However, Mr Alabau reveals that recent RTGs received from Konecranes were supplied with energy saving devices installed. As to whether it would make economic sense to retrofit the entire fleet with these is not yet clear, although this forms part of a study that the terminal is undertaking in respect of overall energy saving, in which it is being partnered by the port authority and university, among others.

“Clearly, we also want to reduce emissions, as well,” he notes.

Quizzed as to the relationship between the terminal and RTG providers, Mr Alabau labels this as ‘fairly good’, there being no notable examples that he could give of significant problems associated with getting spare parts or new components.

“I think a lot of the problems that some terminals are reporting in respect of after-sales support are perhaps due to the fact that they don’t have their own in-house maintenance teams. Because we have a good preventative maintenance programme, we don’t get that many major breakdowns and so we have a good idea of the type of parts that we will require at any given time and can keep these in stock, where appropriate,” he says.

In the Canary Islands, terminal operators have an entirely different take.

Compañía Auxiliar del Puerto SA (CAPSA) is widely recognised as Spain’s most productive container terminal. Located in the Port of Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife, its four quayside gantry cranes achieve an astonishing average of 31.7 moves-per-crane-hour. Significantly, this is not because of transhipment traffic, since the terminal is almost wholly given over to import-export traffic.

According to managing director, Manuel Casais, the high productivity is due to the professionalism and overall positive attitude of the workforce, as well as to the fact that they are paid performance-related salaries. Of equal importance is the high level of equipment availability that the terminal achieves, reflected in the fact that 50% of the terminal’s own workforce is employed on maintenance functions.

Most industry professionals agree that, without exception, those terminals achieving high productivity levels also demonstrate highly efficient yard management. At CAPSA, no fewer than 14 RTGs are now operational, of which four built by Paceco are deployed in the Dique del Este section of the terminal and ten others in the back up area behind Bufadero Quay. This latter group consists of four Paceco-built units, two from Sisu and two from Konecranes delivered as recently as January 2008.

Although Mr Casais is reasonably happy with the RTGs supplied to the terminal, he is not at all impressed by the after sales service available from the manufacturers when CAPSA desperately needs a spare part in a hurry. At best, it will take up to three days to get something flown out to the island, while routine orders for spare parts or components can take anything between 15 and 30 days to arrive. For this reason, CAPSA has to maintain a huge spares inventory worth in excess of ¢1m ($1.3m).

“Understandably, we have to be able to maintain all our own equipment to a very high standard given these types of delay. For that reason, we undertake all maintenance in house. Occasionally, we do get some help from specialists, but these people have to fly in and that takes time. In emergency situations, when we have a major breakdown, we despatch one of our own people by plane to a component supplier in Europe and they then fly back with a replacement part. Believe it or not, it works out cheaper to do that, rather than have something like an RTG out-of-service for several days,” says Mr Casais.

The Líneas Marítimas de Canarias (LMC) container terminal in Las Palmas is owned by the Spanish shipping line Contenemar. Maintenance of LMC’s handling equipment is undertaken by a dedicated company, which belongs to the same group and provides such services to all container terminals operated by Contenemar.

“In Las Palmas, it works exclusively for us,” says terminal director Mr Enrique Gomez. “This means we don’t have to use outside contractors, because it simply isn’t necessary.”

In terms of yard handling, LMC operates five RTGs. Three of these were supplied by Spanish manufacturer Paceco España and the two most recent by Kalmar.

Quizzed about how maintenance of the yard cranes is organised, Mr Gomez points out that LMC has been in business for a long time and therefore has a good idea which spares need to be carried in order to undertake rapid repairs.