Kalmar wins mammoth Colombia order

Kalmar will deliver five RTGs and nine Kalmar Ottawa T2 terminal tractors to SPRC and 18 RTGs and 70 terminal tractors to Contecar. The RTG cranes will “prepared for future remote control and semi-automation features”.

This latest order is part of SPRC and Contecar’s master expansion plan, in keeping with their growing throughput and further enhancing their position as the leading terminals in the Caribbean region. From their current volumes of 1,400,000 and 3,200,000 teu annually, the terminals, which are both owned and managed by Port of Cartagena Group, are anticipating a rapid growth of 5% to 7% at SPRC and 8% to 11% at Contecar over the next five years.

“Our main challenge over the next few years is how to manage the rapid growth while remaining focused on serving our customers during the transitions resulting from growth,” said Eduardo Bustamante, operations manager, SPRC and Contecar.

“We expect to continue to achieve improved levels of productivity at lower operating costs with Kalmar equipment. We are also considering partially automating our RTG operations, so Kalmar, being the leader in this field, was a natural choice for us,” he added.

To improve the environmental impact of the terminals, Kalmar is providing a specially designed battery powered electrical air conditioning system for the terminal tractors. This is expected to lower emissions, reduce noise and fuel cost savings of 30%.

The terminals will also implement Kalmar SmartPath tracking system on the new terminal tractors after delivery. Kalmar SmartPath improves efficiency by using location-based job assignments. Equipment is automatically assigned to the closest job, said to reduce driving distances and fuel consumption, and speeds up operations.

This latest equipment will join an existing fleet of two ship-to-shore cranes, 49 Kalmar E-One2 RTGs, 92 terminal tractors, 22 reachstackers and two lift trucks in operation at the terminals.

Deliveries are scheduled to take place between July and December 2016.