Kalmar reach stackers are part of Yingkou Port Group Corporation's recent order to cope with expanding port business.

Yingkou Port Group Corporation has ordered eight Kalmar DRF450 reach stackers and one DCE80 empty container handler from Cargotec to help meet the demands of northern China's expanding port business.

Three units have been delivered and the rest will arrive at the end of this month. The machines will be assembled at Cargotec's production facility in the Linggang Industrial Park near Shanghai, China.

The 7,000 sqm (75,347 sqft) facility opened in January 2006, assembling a range of Kalmar equipment including rubber-tyred gantry cranes, reach stackers, empty container handlers and terminal tractors.

In the mid-1980s, Cargotec started sending CKDs of its Kalmar terminal tractors to Asia for local assembly. The success of the project convinced the company to invest in the Linggang assembly plant.

Today, the facility produces Kalmar heavy forklifts, Hiab stiff and knuckle boom cranes and Hiab Hooklifts. About 350 people are employed at the site.

The Liaoning province in north east China has invested over EUR2 billion (USD2.7 billion) to expand five of its major ports including Yingkou, as part of its plan to develop the region as a major centre for inland domestic trade. Container traffic in Yingkou Port has grown significantly with a 2008 throughput of over 2 million TEUs, a 30% jump from 2007.

The value of the order was not disclosed.