Kalmar Industries has won an order from Transnet Limited, the parent company of terminal operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), for the supply of 32 E-One+ rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes. This latest agreement follows on from a series of recent orders received from Transnet, further demonstrating Kalmar's commitment to ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of South Africa's largest stevedore.

The new 1-over-5 high and 1+6 wide units, scheduled for delivery starting in June 2009 with the final cranes arriving by November 2010, have been earmarked for the expansion of TPT's Cape Town Container Terminal operation.

The RTGs will be supplied with Kalmar's Smartrail, an autosteering and container position verification system, and will be fitted with Bromma spreaders. The automatic steering guides the crane along 'virtual tracks' while the container position verification can locate all of the containers in a terminal.

Edwin Briggeman, managing director of Kalmar Industries South Africa (Pty) Ltd, says the order follows from Transnet's successful operation of Kalmar equipment at TPT's Pier 1 Container Terminal in Durban, and from this year's earlier order for 22 RTGs for Transnet's new development at the Port of Ngqura.

Transnet is investing almost USD541 million to expand capacity at the Cape Town Container Terminal from 800,000 TEU to 1.4 million TEU.

In April, Kalmar was asked to supply 30 CSC440 straddle carriers for Transnet's operations at Durban Container Terminal (DCT) in the Port of Durban. The machines will be delivered starting in July 2008 with the final units arriving January 2009.

Kalmar has not revealed the value of the latest order or any of the previous contracts.