Kalmar shuttles deliver automation readiness

The order, which is Kalmar’s largest single order for horizontal transportation to date, was booked into Cargotec’s 2016 fourth quarter order intake and is due for delivery by the end of 2018.

“Our equipment will be delivered with high readiness for automation and we will configure, test and pre-integrate the shuttles so that the future conversion to fully automated horizontal transportation solution can be done quickly, said Tero Kokko, Senior Vice President, Automation and Projects at Kalmar.”

The Kalmar solution will help the terminal to mitigate risks in moving into automated operations in advance, as well as enable maximisation of Automatic Stacking Crane (ASC) productivity by decoupling the landside operations from quay and truck lane operations at the terminal.

Kalmar Hybrid Straddle carriers apparently consume up to 40% less fuel and cut annual CO2 emissions by over 50 tonnes per carrier, compared to existing diesel-electric designs.

The Tangier-Med 2 port is a greenfield transshipment terminal that is scheduled to be opened in 2019. It will have a will have annual capacity of five million teu and serve the major shipping routes between Europe, Africa and the Far East and the anticipated significant cargo traffic increase in Africa in the coming years.

APM Terminals already operates the APM Terminals Tangier facility at Tangier-Med 1, which started operations in July of 2007 and handled 1.7 million teu in 2015.