Transnet Capital Projects has ordered three rail-mounted-gantry cranes.

Konecranes has received its first container handling crane order from South Africa after Transnet Capital Projects, a unit of rail, port and pipeline company Transnet Ltd, ordered three rail-mounted-gantry (RMG) cranes.

The cranes will be delivered in 2012 to Johannesburg's City Deep Container Terminal for use in intermodal operations. The order's value is confidential.

"We are extremely proud of this first RMG order to South Africa and Transnet," says Antoine Bosquet, Konecranes' sales director. "Konecranes' presence in South Africa, which originates from the acquisition of Dynamic Crane Systems in 2009, confirms Konecranes' commitment to the country's economic growth."

Konecranes' Johannesburg branch will provide support and preventive maintenance during the cranes' first year of operation, including a RailQ inspection on the crane tracks. RailQ is a new Konecranes product that gives three-dimensional measurements of the rails to ensure tracks are in safe working condition.

Transnet Capital Projects' Vernon Kretzschmar says the company looks forward to "the operational improvement and efficiency" offered through the Konecranes products.

The RMG cranes are equipped with Active Load Control, which provides advanced anti-sway features and horizontal fine positioning without hydraulics. The cranes have a lifting capacity of 41 tons, a lifting height of 11.5 metres (37.7 feet) and a span of 22.5 metres (73.8 feet). They are equipped with rotating trolleys. Active Load Control currently operates in more than 500 rubber-tyred-gantry cranes and 120 RMGs.

City Deep Container Terminal is a key link in South Africa's logistics network. It is the largest of six major inland terminals and connects with South African ports. Containers unloaded at various regional ports are transported to City Deep Container Terminal by rail before being dispatched by truck to their final destinations. The new RMG cranes will load and unload containers between trains and trucks. They are expected to reduce train operation times and increase the terminal's productivity.