Port of Manzanillo is undergoing rapid expansion

Contecon Manzanillo Sociedad Anopmina (CMSA), the Mexican subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), has taken delivery of six Kalmar rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes.

The Port of Manzanillo is undertaking an ambitious expansion project to position itself as the leading port in Latin America.

Fortino Landeros, general manager at Contecon Manzanillo, says: "Container traffic has increased, even surpassing productivity targets for the new terminal, and existing port capacity has doubled."

Meeting the challenges, CMSA has successfully used Kalmar ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, RTG cranes, reachstackers and terminal tractors and turned again to Kalmar for the new project. The terminal is also using a terminal operating system (TOS) from Navis, also part of the Cargotec group.

"We ordered from Kalmar because we believe that their equipment is first class. They presented the best design and quality and Kalmar offers the best maintenance service for us. We work with Kalmar technicians who are here in Manzanillo to support our maintenance team to keep the equipment working at its optimum. The after-market services ensure that everything is working perfectly once the equipment arrives at the terminal, and on time to keep our customers satisfied," says Landeros.

Troy Thompson, vice president, sales for Kalmar Americas, says the Mexican port is experiencing significant development and "we are pleased to support the ICTSI group companies in their continuous global expansion".

The RTGs were delivered with the necessary hardware pre-installed to support the Kalmar SmartPort process automation solutions, which CMSA will be deploying in the future. These include Kalmar SmartRail automated steering system, Kalmar SmartLift automated job promotion and handoff solution between container handling equipment and trucks, and Kalmar SmartStack automated inventory solution. Factory installation of the Kalmar SmartPort hardware saves time, money and additional customisation work for CMSA.