One of the Kalmar straddle carriers in operation at SAPO's Durban container terminal.

Kalmar Industries has just been awarded its second largest order - 53 straddle carriers for South African Port Operations (SAPO), the terminal operating subsidiary of South Africa's transport conglomerate, Transnet Ltd.

The first straddle carriers will be shipped from Finland in November 2005 and, by mid 2006, all 53 machines will be operating in SAPO's container handling facilities in the ports of Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

The order follows Kalmar's largest order in 2001, for 60 straddle carriers, also for SAPO.

Durban handles more than 60 per cent of the container traffic to and from South Africa. It is the busiest port on the African continent because of its location on the world's major shipping routes, said a Kalmar statement

Kalmar did not disclose the value of the order.