Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) has taken delivery of two new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes as part of a AUD235 million expansion project.

The new cranes mean VICT, Australia’s first fully automated container terminal, will soon be handling the largest boxships to arrive in the country.

“We are now ready to receive the largest vessels that will come to Australia as part of the upsizing strategy undertaken by the all the major shipping lines in the world,” says VICT chief executive officer Bruno Porchietto. 

“This trend will lead to an increasing number of supersized vessels sailing into Phillip Bay and mooring at VICT.”

VICT’s new automated cranes are the largest in Australia, with a lift height of 49 m, 10 m higher than the terminal’s five existing STS cranes. 

The 60-meter boom outreach enables the new cranes to operate 22 containers across on a vessel. 

The existing cranes are capable of handling 19 containers across with their 50 m boom outreach. 

The new cranes also offer better productivity with their lashing platforms mounted 15 m high compared to the cranes that only allow pinning to be completed at the quay level.

VICT’s expansion project will increase the terminal’s capacity to 1.25 million TEUs. The terminal has also acquired six additional automated stacking cranes as part of the expansion, which will be completed by the end of the year.

VICT is a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI).