Kalmar to enhance STS crane capabilities at EUROGATE Tanger
Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has concluded an agreement with long-term customer EUROGATE Tanger in Morocco to upgrade the capabilities of four ZPMC ship-to-shore (STS) cranes. The order was booked in Cargotec's 2019 Q3 order intake, and the project is scheduled to commence in Q1 of 2020 and be completed in Q2 2021.
The EUROGATE Tanger (EGT) container terminal is conveniently located on the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco, making it the ideal transhipment hub for the western Mediterranean, Africa, as well as North and South America. With a quay length of 812 m, a terminal area of 400,000 m² and a water depth of up to 18 m, the facility is well-equipped to handle the new generation of container ships. The terminal’s equipment fleet already includes several Kalmar machines, including rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs).
Kalmar will be responsible for the planning, engineering and execution of the entire project, which involves heightening the four STS cranes by 11 metres and extending the booms by six metres. The upgrade will enable the terminal to serve mega-sized container vessels.
Andrea Cervia, CEO, EUROGATE Tanger S.A.: "With this investment, which is the biggest since the commencement of operations in 2008, EGT will be ready from the second half of next year to accommodate the latest generation Ultra Large Container Ships with a capacity of 23,000 TEUs working up to 25 rows across. In this way we are looking to the future, because we intend to confirm and extend our role as the transshipment-hub of choice in the Mediterranean, enabling us to continue to offer a top-level service to our customers. We decided to partner with Kalmar once again because of the proven track record and technical expertise of their dedicated crane upgrades team."
Eduardo Prat, Vice President, Sales, Kalmar Automation Solutions: "EUROGATE Tanger has been an important partner of ours for many years so we are delighted to be able to help them future-proof their operations ready for handling the next generation of mega-size vessels. Our track record and expertise in these kinds of crane upgrade projects is exemplary, and we are the only provider capable of completing the work in such a short timescale."