The order was booked in Cargotec’s Q1 2017 intake, with delivery scheduled for Q3 2017.
MPET is a joint venture between TIL Group and PSA, the second largest container operator in the world. Located in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, the straddle carrier terminal handles more than 12,000 containers per day. The terminal is currently undergoing expansion in order to increase its handling capacity, and the new Kalmar electric straddle carriers are part of this project. The nine new machines will join nine similar units delivered during 2016. Additionally, MPET has 21 Kalmar ship-to-shore cranes of which six were heightened by Kalmar in 2013.
Dirk Oellibrandt, General Manager at MPET, says: “We value our relationship with Kalmar highly because of the excellent spare parts availability, equipment reliability and high-quality local maintenance services. As a straddle carrier terminal, we rely on Kalmar equipment to perform horizontal transportation, stacking and truck loading operations. These new machines will play a critical role in supporting our project to expand the terminal’s capacity.”
Tero Kokko, Senior Vice President, Automation and Projects at Kalmar, says: “We are happy to continue helping MPET to boost their capacity at the Port of Antwerp. Kalmar electric straddle carriers are trusted by terminal operators the world over for their ability to boost the efficiency of operations as well as their excellent fuel efficiency and low noise. They feature a spacious, ergonomic cabin and intuitive user interface, comply with the latest exhaust emission regulations and can be fully automated.”