KCI Konecranes has secured its first rubber-tyred-gantry (RTG) crane order from a Ukrainian container terminal.

Terminal operator Ukrtranscontainer ordered six RTGs, worth EUR9 million (USD11.5 million), to be delivered to Illichivsk container terminal in the northern hemisphere's 2007 spring.

The 16-wheel, all-electric RTGs have a lifting capacity of 50 tons and can stack containers one-over-five high in a six-plus-truck wide lane.

The cranes, which will be manufactured in Europe and the Ukraine, are part of a program to modernise the Illichivsk Sea Commercial Port, started in 2004, a Konecranes statement said.

Konecranes said the Illichivsk terminal would increase its annual handling capacity to four million TEUs in 10 years.

Urktranscontainer is part of the National Container Company, the largest container terminal operator in the Commonwealth Independent States, Konecranes said. It has operated the Illichivsk terminal since 2005.