Riga terminal invests in automated containers

The terminal also has an option to buy six more in the future. Several other ports in northwest Europe, eastern Europe and the Middle East have also expressed an interest, says Graviti.

“This contract shows that we are now truly past the initial stages in which potential clients were interested, but were not yet ready to invest in such an innovation,” said Dinis Hruscovs, managing director of Graviti and responsible for developing the SDC.

“The fact that our system reduces CO2 emissions in cargo loading logistics also plays a part – the self-discharging containers can handle more bulk faster than traditional grabs, so less movements are needed.

“Combine that with lower operational cost and a relatively low pricing due to the simplicity of the design and you can see why we are currently speaking with clients in other regions too.”

Bulk handing at speed

In 2020 Graviti developed a technology to speed up loading and reduce costs. That resulted in two completely new types of self-discharging containers, the SDC30, able to handle 600 tonnes of bulk per hour and the SDC40, with a 900 tonnes per hour loading speed, operating with just one crane.

The containers operate on electrical power and every container comes with its own battery guaranteed for 500 cycles of loading/offloading on a single charge.

The SDCs in Riga will be able to unload its 27m³ cargoes in 30 seconds, which is 1.5 times more productive than regular methods of loading, says Graviti.

In 2022, more than 150 ships were loaded with Graviti containers, handling about 1.5 million tonnes of cargo.