Terex Gottwald battery AGVs, seen here at the HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder in Hamburg, Germany.

Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has received a milestone order for automated container-handling equipment for terminals.

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) of Hong Kong, China has placed an order for a turnkey package comprising 72 environmentally friendly battery-powered Terex Gottwald automated guided vehicles (AGV).

The contract, the value of which is undisclosed, includes fleet management software for the AGVs, and a battery-changing station for use in the company's Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) in California, USA. The equipment will be used in a completely new terminal that is currently being constructed by combining and reassigning existing terminal space and other land in the Long Beach port.

With the new installation, Terex Port Solutions is now heavily involved in seven automated container terminals worldwide. This new order is not only the first for AGVs and associated equipment that has ever been placed from outside Europe, it is, at the same time, a premiere for Terex Gottwald automated container-handling solutions in the USA.

Steve Filipov, president of the Terex Material Handling & Port Solutions business segment, is excited by the development in his home country. "We have been established among leading European terminal operators for several decades as a manufacturer and supplier of AGV technology. We consider it to be confirmation of our commitment that we have now been awarded this prestigious order, allowing us to contribute high-grade, environmentally aware engineering to the new low-emissions Californian container-handling project.

The Terex Gottwald AGVs at Long Beach will move containers horizontally from the quayside to the stackyard. Each vehicle has a 70T capacity and can transfer all standard ISO containers.

The first batch will be delivered to Long Beach from early 2014. The remaining vehicles will be delivered in batches over the coming years.