Cargotec supplies RTGs to Jinjiang Pacific Ports Development.

Cargotec is supplying two Kalmar E-One2 rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes to Cosco Pacific subsidiary Jinjiang Pacific Ports Development (JPPDC).

Scheduled for delivery in May 2012, the all-electric RTGs can stack containers one-over-five high, span six container rows and a roadway, and have a 41 T lift capacity.

JPPDC currently operates a two-berth facility in Weitou Port, in Fujian Province. Cosco Pacific is in the second phase of an investment plan to expand the container yard to increase the terminal's throughput. The RTG order will support the infrastructure expansion project. The value of the order is confidential.

Container throughput at the terminal is expected to reach 400,000 TEUs next year. It is predicted to achieve 800,000 TEUs in 2015 after completion of the second phase expansion.

Cargotec director of Port Cranes Asia Dennis Lue says while China is a key Cargotec market, the order is the first RTG order the company has secured in the country in about five years.

"Our success in winning the contract against tough competition from Chinese and overseas manufacturers shows how increasingly competitive our RTGs are becoming [because] of the efforts we have made recently to deliver forward-looking technology at a reasonable cost," Lue says.

JPPDC already operates Kalmar reach stackers at its landside operations. Lue says Cargotec's regional office in Hong Kong built a good relationship with its Chinese customer, and JPPDC's positive experience with the reach stackers reinforced Cargotec's reputation for quality and reliability.

"Other factors which encouraged JPPDC to choose Kalmar RTGS included the low fuel consumption, low maintenance design and the low overall lifetime running costs of the machines," Lue says.

Cosco Pacific, which controls an 80% stake in JPPDC, is ranked by Drewry Shipping Consultants as the fifth largest container terminal operator in the world. Besides having a network of container terminal facilities in the Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and southeast coast regions of China, Cosco Pacific has overseas investments in Singapore, Antwerp, Port Said and Piraeus.

Cargotec's Lingang assembly plant, located close to the Yang Shan port development, has delivered forklifts, empty container handlers, reach stackers, terminal tractors and RTGs to Chinese ports. Cargotec is planning to establish a joint venture with Jiangsu Rainbow Heavy Industries Co Ltd, focusing on ship-to-shore cranes, rail-mounted gantry cranes, marine specialty cranes and RTGs, to boost its competitiveness in China and globally.