According to the Rotterdam Port Authority the Maasvlakte2 project is right-on-time and the emphasis of the work is currently on the construction of the hard sea defences, the construction of the quays for the first container terminals and the preparations for the construction of infrastructure, such as roads, railway lines and cables and pipelines. The first 40m of the new block dam that will protect Maasvlakte 2 from the onslaught of the waves are now in place. Three weeks ago, a special crane – the “Blockbuster” – started work on this breakwater, which will be built in the sea 50m off the coast. The block dam should be completed by the beginning of next year. Then, 20,000 concrete blocks from the old block dam of the Maasvlakte will have been moved to their new position. Construction work on the quay wall is also on schedule. The Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG) deep-sea quay and barge/feeder quay will be completed this year. A lot of work is also going into the quays for the new terminal of APM Terminals. For the hard sea defences, PUMA, in collaboration with the Port of Rotterdam Authority, has made an innovate design, which consists of a stony dune and a block dam. The core of the stony dune is made up of sand, covered on the outside with a thick layer of fist-size rubble, the so-called “cobbles”. The stony dune will have a height of NAP (Amsterdam Ordnance Datum) +14m. The design for the hard sea defences was optimised during the past few years, and tested exhaustively using scale models. The hard sea defences of Maasvlakte 2 were designed in such a way that they can withstand the type of storm that occurs once every 10,000 years. On the sea-side of the stony dune, a block dam with a height of around 3m above NAP will be built in the sea. This block dam will ensure that the waves break, so that they hit the stony dune behind with less force. Thanks to this structure, a sort of lagoon will be formed behind the block dam, providing opportunities for unique flora and fauna.

Construction of hard sea defences

The building of these hard sea defences will begin with the construction of the underwater slope. Trailing hopper suction dredgers will bring in sand for this. Then, a temporary track will be laid using cobbles, with larger rubble and concrete blocks for protection. The “Blockbuster” will perform its unique work from the temporary track. This crane was specially designed for the construction of the block dam. From the temporary track, the “Blockbuster” will position the concrete blocks in the sea. After the blocks have been positioned under and above the water, the temporary track will be demolished. The stone that is made available will be used for the construction of the stony dune, among other things. The construction of the hard sea defences will require some 6.5 million tonnes of rubble and around 20,000 concrete blocks. The concrete blocks and 1.5 million tonnes of stone will be recycled from the old block dam and sea defences of the Maasvlakte. Five million tonnes of rubble will be brought in from Norway and Germany by ship. The great majority of this, about 4 million tonnes, is so-called ‘cobbles’. Most of the stone is already in stock, so that it can be put to use quickly.

Precision positioning

For positioning the concrete blocks, each weighing some 40 tonnes, PUMA designed the “Blockbuster”. Thanks to the crane, it is possible to work from the shore, so that PUMA is less dependent on the weather when executing the work. The special crane has a unique positioning system, by means of which the blocks can be positioned both under and above water to an accuracy of 15 centimeters. This precision is necessary if the tested design is to be built accurately. The crane itself weighs around 1200 tonnes, has a counterweight of 360 tonnes and moves on three double sets of caterpillar treads.

RWG quay wall

In January 2010, a start was made on the construction of the quays for the Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG) container terminal. This summer, work on the first 500m of the total 1250m of deep-sea quay will have been completed. The majority of the fenders and bollards are already in place and the land behind the quay is currently being raised. A crane with a sand pump dredges wet sand from the harbour and applies it behind the quay. This technique produces an extremely dense surface, on which the concrete base for the crane track can be cast. The concrete construction for RWG’s 600m barge/feeder quay is already complete. This quay can be delivered after the summer.  At the same time [January 2011], a start was made on the construction of the quay walls for the container terminal of APM Terminals. Here, 1000m of deep-sea quay and 500m of barge/feeder quay will be built. Delivery of the sites to both clients is on schedule. To guarantee the connection of Maasvlakte 2 to the existing port area, various modifications to the infrastructure are at either the execution or preparatory phase. For instance, the first viaduct over the new access road to Maasvlakte 2 (extended N15) will be completed at the end of this year. Around this time too, the tendering procedure will commence for work on the planned modernisation of the Europaweg/Coloradoweg junction, the most important traffic junction for both the existing Maasvlakte and Maasvlakte 2. The construction of the extended Betuweroute to Maasvlakte 2 and various changes to and connections of existing rail lines will also be implemented this year and in 2012.

This $1.6 billion project at Sao Joao da Barra in south-east Brazil, approximately 175 miles from Rio de Janeiro, has been under construction since October 2007 and will be operational in 2012. World Port Development has been following its progress…

The port is the brainchild of entrepreneur Eike Batista, the Brazilian billionaire. His company LLX Logistica has provided the basic detailing, engineering and management of the project. Tecton Engineering submitted the design while Logos Engineering was responsible for monitoring construction and quality control. Eventually the port will include an industrial complex incorporating a steel plant, two cement plants, a power plant, an oil refinery and at least four mills for iron ore pelletising and is estimated to create 50,000 jobs. The most important part in the port’s development programme at this point was completed last March. This is the access jetty to the berthing piers, a huge structure of concrete and steel nearly three kilometers long and 26.6 meters wide, linking the coast to 10 berths for mooring vessels and complete with offshore loading and unloading facilities. A joint venture comprising two Rio de Janeiro-based contractors, ARG and Civil Port, was awarded the access jetty contract. ARG is the main contractor with an 80% share while Civil Port has expertise in port development projects.  To form the jetty foundations and to drive the steel and concrete piles required, a CG300 hydraulic piling hammer fitted with a 20t ram weight was purchased from manufacturer BSP International Foundations (BSP) based at Ipswich in England. Following the hammer’s commissioning by BSP field engineers, the CG300, suspended from a Manitowoc 300 crane fitted with a 60m boom, began driving concrete piles in August 2008. Approximately 1200 concrete piles 47m long and 800mm in diameter were driven 10m to 15m into the sea bed through sand and layered clay over a 19 month period. In addition, tubular steel piles were driven in areas with thick layers of soft clay. The longest of these were up to 96m and filled with concrete.  Piling was carried out in three shifts, 24 hours a day, every day of the week over a stretch of water 14m deep. At the same time dredging was carried out to deepen the access channel and berthing basin to 18.5m with further dredging planned to 21m allowing the port to receive large ships such as bulk carriers up 220,000t.   

Accuracy and excellence

The piling grid for the structure consisted of rows of four to six piles driven to create a pier. Altogether 163 piers were built and were spaced 20m apart with each pier linked together by four parallel concrete beams 20m long and weighing 38t each to form the base of jetty deck. To ensure accuracy and enhance production the contractors used a purpose built 1100t steel gantry frame for the piling work with opening gates and mounted on two railway tracks. The gantry was supported on previously driven piles which allowed up to six piles to be held in place and positioned in rows. Piles were then driven to a predetermined level and when the gantry gates were opened the hammer was able to pass through and drive the piles to the required depth. For every five piles driven two further inclined piles were driven at the end of each pier to avoid side swing of the structure and to contain pitching. As each pier was completed and capped the gantry was then moved forward together with the crane and hammer thus moving the pile gates to the next position ready for a new batch of piles to be loaded. This system allowed the jetty to move seaward at a rate of 20m per week.  Throughout the project the contractors have s achieved excellent results with the CG300 hammer enabling the company to keep ahead of the construction programme.  The crane suspended CG300 is just one of BSP’s heavy-duty CG range of piling hammers with ram weights from 12t up to 25t. The company’s larger CGL range offers ram weights from 25t up to 40t.  Maximum impact energies extend from 185kNm to 400kNm. All have been designed for driving a variety of bearing piles including steel, combi piles, ‘H’ sections and reinforced/pre-stressed concrete piles and can be operated from piling rig leaders or, as in the Porto do Acu project, crane suspended. Also included are hinged type back guides to allow quicker installation onto the leader. Some important features include: total control of hammer stroke and blow rate, precise matching of energy to suit the particular pile driving requirements and the ability to drive piles with an ultimate load bearing up to 14,500kN. Fitted with a BSP remote control panel, the CG range is capable of delivering an infinitely variable stroke and blow rate enabling precise delivery of energy to the pile thereby allowing the contractor to maximize production, avoid pile damage and problems of pile runaway.  A major feature of the CG hammers is the design of the hydraulic actuator which, for a given blow rate and energy transference, results in less fuel consumption and reduced exhaust emissions  Piling helmets are also available to efficiently transfer the hammer’s impact to the pile.  Using a BSP manifold control valve the CG range can be connected into existing power supply from a hydraulic piling rig or crawler crane base.   All the concrete used for the manufacture of the pre-cast piles and capping beams was produced in a purpose built facility on the onshore site. Construction of the jetty is estimated to have consumed 100,000m3 of concrete and 16,000t of steel. It is forecast that the port will eventually handle over 63 million tonnes of iron ore, 10 million of steel products, 15 million of coal, five million of dry bulk and 7.5 million of general cargo.

Now, some in the bulk handling industry suggest there has been a “paradigm shift” in recent years with mining think tanks and mining operators asking simply: “Do we need trucks?”or  “How much can we cover with conveyors?” So says Thomas Jabs, Global Product Line Manager, Products & Systems, for Sweden’s Sandvik Mining & Construction Materials Handling GmbH & Co KG, one of the world’s leading makers of conveyors. “With constantly increasing volumes to be transported, the big mining operators are changing their focus more onto transport and logistics questions,” says Jabs. “There has been a paradigm shift in the initial layout phase of mines.”

Approaching capacity

That shift in thinking might explain why some of the Top 5 conveyor makers had strong years in 2010 with the action spilling into a robust 1st Quarter of 2011. Two of the three FL Smidth material handling offices, including Wadgassen , near Frankfurt in Germany, which handles port related conveying matters, have had near record order intake for the year so far, reports Jeremy Holland, Business Development Manager and mechanical engineer for FL Smidth in its Meridian, Idaho office in the United States. All three handling groups are “quickly approaching our engineering capacity for the year,” adds Holland, who expects it to be a record year. These days, it’s all about higher tonnages and faster-moving conveyors. Holland says most of the projects that are being completed today have increased 50% in capacity over what was being considered just five years ago. “As the equipment the conveyors support continues to grow in capacity and size, the material handling systems must grow in accordance.” For Sandvik, Jabs says the industry is “still hauling a large project backlog from 2008-2009 and important investment and expansion projects are being step by step green lighted.” Sandvik has found the demand for conveyors to be “especially high” and Jabs says “we are constantly reinforcing this part of our business.”

Strong activity

Engineering consultants WorleyParsons, who do conveyor work around the world, have noted strong activity in the bulk handling sector on the North American west coast and in the United Kingdom, particularly in the coal industry. “There’s a significant amount of expansion work underway or being investigated,” says WorleyParsons Technical Director, Greg Andrew, based in Vancouver, BC. “Everyone appears to be rebuilding and the current (high) prices of coal are bringing more people onto the market.” At least two new coal terminals have been announced for Washington State and several new coal mining projects are being explored in the northeast of British Columbia. Recently, a Chinese consortium, including the Shougang Group, one of China’s top steelmakers, announced it was spending $1 billion to develop new coal mines in that region. This will put BC’s three coal export terminals, already operating at capacity, under further pressure to expand over the next few years. North America’s busiest coal export terminal, Westshore Terminals in Port Metro Vancouver, recently completed a three-year, $47 million equipment upgrade, which included sections of new, wider, high-speed conveyors to feed a new fourth stacker-reclaimer and an upgraded coal dumper. And Westshore is not alone in growth on the west coast, as its two major rivals, Neptune Bulk Terminals in Port Metro Vancouver and Ridley Terminals Inc., in the Port of Prince Rupert, are also amid expansion projects. Another major engineering consulting firm dealing in conveyors and conveyor systems, Ausenco Sandwell, based in Brisbane, Australia, has been busy in iron ore and coal expansion projects in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, and Australia, says Gordon Zonailo, Vice President of Technology, located in Vancouver BC. Ausenco Sandwell has been working with Teck Resources on a feasibility study on reopening the Quintette Mine in BC’s northeast. Poor prices forced the closure of the open pit mine in August, 2000, but a great deal has happened to coal prices since then. If the study results are favourable, Quintette could be back in action in 2013.

Rush of projects

“Business is pretty good and it’s getting busier and busier,” says Zonailo. “Our 2011 started off with a rush of projects going ahead, work that had been held off until design completion or the project  go ahead was received.” Ausenco Sandwell gets involved from mine pit to port and is currently working on an “embryonic mining plan” in Sri Lanka in the project development stage for iron ore and coal and involving new port facilities and a power plant. Zonailo says the greenfield project, which involves a lot of conveyor work, will be two years in studies and three years in development. Like most engineering companies consulting in construction management, when it comes to conveyors, Ausenco Sandwell usually chooses individual suppliers for pulleys, idlers, conveyor drives and so on and has them assembled by a contractor under their guidance as Project Manager. Recent conveyor purchases have involved Continental in the US, Conti Tech AG and Midwest Conveyors in Wisconsin for Europe, and Metso, Sandvik, Tenova Takraf, and FAM Group worldwide.

Hot spots

Sandvik sees the hot spots as a head-to-head race between Australia and Latin America where coal and iron ore are the drivers for new projects. Canada and China are also in mining growth modes, but the biggest growth potential of all, says Jabs, lies in Africa. For FL Smidth, recent materials handling hot spots around the world have included South America, particularly Chile and Peru, plus South Africa, India and Indonesia. The contract successes list is impressive and includes:

A EUR53 million coal handling system (engineering, supply and construction) contract with the Indian National Thermal Power Corporation. Conveyors will handle up to 1,650 tonnes of coal an hour.

A USD135 million material handling contract with PT Adaro Indonesia to cut truck usage at its Tanjung District coal mine by using a new conveying system including overland and mobile stacking conveyors.

A EUR34 million material handling equipment contract with the Kuwait Cement Company for a second production line located at their cement plant at Shuaiba Port.

A USD20.4 million contract to supply the world’s largest pipe conveyor to India’s NTPC-Tamil Nadu Energy Company Ltd. as part of an external coal handling package.

A USD40 million contract with the LILIAMA Vietnam Machinery Corporation for the supply of a coal handling facility that includes about 8 kilometers of conveyors.

Clear advantages

Meanwhile, few would disagree that conveyors have clearly identifiable environmental advantages over trucks and even rail. For many port and stockyard applications, the modern conveyor system is simply the most economic way of transporting bulk solid materials. And compared to trucks that run one way empty, long haul conveyors look decidedly greener with a much better carbon footprint. New conveyor belts with lower friction factors in operation and cosinus phi compensation at the drives to reduce the reactive power are just a few of the green innovations Sandvik has introduced, according to Jabs. More and more conveyor owners are also turning to energy-saving LED lighting. For Denmark based FL Smidth, Jeremy Holland says the biggest advances in conveyor design over the past decade have involved software and the application of that software. He gives as examples the dynamic analysis of large, high capacity conveyors and the Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) of conveyor transfers to show how different materials flow through transfer chutes. “These tools in the hands of experienced engineers allow for design of reliable conveyor systems at the increased speeds and tonnages that we have seen over the past several years,” he adds.

Debottlenecking

As the world rebounds from the global recession of 2008-2009 and bulk handlers start to push capacities once again, companies all over the planet are conducting debottl
enecking studies to identify and help them to remove choke points in their site operations. Conveyors are also going, wider, faster and quieter as the evolution continues its greening.

Jabs says two key questions facing the bulk materials handling industry these days are:

“How do I get my overburden removed as cheaply, environmentally friendly and as safe as possible?”

“How do I get my ore to the port and onto the ship as cheaply, environmentally friendly and as safe as possible?”

Innovations

Jabs lists among innovations in the conveyor industry the Sandvik HM150 formed roller, which he says has a unique design and properties that greatly reduce the edge contact between balls and raceway in the bearing, thus extending bearing lifetime, something “extremely important in remote mining places with high maintenance personnel costs.” Another step forward, adds Jabs, is the wider use of frequency-controlled drives, although it took some time to gain market acceptance. FL Smidth is particularly proud of its Dual Track Mobile Sizer produced by its group in Spokane WA. Billed as the world’s first fully mobile truck dump station, the DTMS interfaces directly with rear dump trucks, cuts costs and reduces emissions in the haulage of waste mine materials or overburden. The DTMS uses a shiftable face conveyor and mobile overland hopper, giving a mine a highly mobile system, while considerably reducing its truck haul fleet. Other advances in the materials handling industry, says Holland, include low rolling rubber compounds for the belting, low friction idlers, and more efficient drive components to ensure the most energy efficient method of transporting materials possible.                                                                                                                                                         

Liebherr states that the world market for MHCs saw a notable downturn in 2009, with a depression across all manufacturers of 40 percent on the previous year. Comparatively, the company states that it recorded a slightly better reduction in orders, which were down by only 30 percent. Furthermore, it reports that turnover for the calendar year 2010 was EUR 210 million, slightly up on the previous year. Within these figures, business from Europe accounted for 38 percent, followed by 18 percent from Latin America, 15 percent from India, and 12 percent from Africa, with the rest of the market shared between North America, the Middle East, Far East Asia and Australia. The introduction of the Pactronic hybrid drive system was the big story for Liebherr in 2010; at the end of the year, the company reports that its order backlog for MHCs amounted to more than EUR 10 million. The new LHM 550 Pactronic model accounted for more than 25 percent of this business. The main news for company’s MHC portfolio at this year’s TOC Europe is the presentation of the new model LHM 420. The manufacturer states that this new heavyweight crane is the successor of the LHM 400 and bridges the gap between the LHM 550 and the LHM 280. The LHM 420 will be available in two variants, with maximum lifting capacities of 84 and 124 tonnes. Its maximum radius is 48 meters, making the LHM 420 ideal for loading and unloading from a wide variety of vessels, from handysize to post-Panamax classes. The crane is specially designed for container movement, bulk material, heavy loads and any other cargo handling tasks. After the LHM 550, the LHM 420 is the second product line serially equipped with the energy-saving and performance-enhancing Pactronic system. Demag, the parent company of Gottwald Port Technology, reports that it generally considers the financial year 2009/10 an overall success. Indeed, the company states that the rapid implementation of its restructuring programme has created a basis for further growth. Its group order intake increased by 8.2 percent year on year to EUR 910.6 million in 2009/10, with all segments contributing. The manufacturer states that the late cyclical nature of its business explains the delay before this positive order situation is reflected in revenue. Because of this, Demag Group revenue decreased by 11.1 percent compared with the previous year to EUR 931.3 million. Despite this, Demag slightly exceeded its revenue target of EUR 900 million. The industrial cranes segment reported revenue of EUR 440.8 million (in 2008/09 the figure stood at EUR 545.8 million) and operating earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of EUR 4.8 million (2008/2009: EUR 29.7 million). The company also states that it has further reduced its cost base by successfully implementing measures from the restructuring programme and succeeded in lowering the break-even point well below the initially planned EUR 470 million. Demag states that it has intensified its focus on developing markets in the last financial year, opening a new plant in Chakan, India, in 2010, and thereby increasing its production capacities on the subcontinent almost fivefold, by around 8,000 square meters to more than 10,400 square meters. Indeed, the company has placed a focus on developing MHC business in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries as part of its strategy. A facet of this business tactic has been the recent performance trial at Indian client Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), of a Gottwald G HMK 6407 B mobile harbour crane in continuous-duty coal handling. With an average capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes per hour, the four-rope grab crane unloaded an entire Panamax vessel carrying 62,324 tonnes of coal in only 61 hours and two minutes. A further order from an Indian-based customer came from the Archean Group, for a G HPK 8200 B floating crane, a variant of the company’s Model 8 of Generation 5, used for open-sea trans-shipment of export coal from barges to ocean-going vessels off the Indonesian coast in the province Bengkulu (also known as Southwest Sumatra). Italian manufacturer Italgru has also scored some success in the Indian market, having supplied two GS 1100 P (now converted to IHC 1360) cranes to Kandla Port Trust India (KPT). The cranes have aITALGU S.r.l. pleased to announce to have secured a prestigious contract for supply of two nos Mobile Harbour Cranes model GS 1100 P (now this model has been converted to model IHC 1360) having lifting capacity of 63 t at the hook from Kandla Port Trust India (KPT), a leading Government Port in India, handling 70 mtpa of different cargo at present.Picture: same model in operation in the Port of […]a lifting capacity of 63 tonnes at the hook. Within Italy, Italgru delivered a new model IHC 2120 crane to the stevedoring company, Terminal Calata Orlando (Leghorn Port). This crane has a capacity at the hook of 120 tonnes. “With diesel-hydraulic driven, proportional electronic-type controls that optimise the performances, our harbour cranes are particularly suitable for works in which high lifting power and high speed must combine with the utmost precise and smooth movement,” Italgru states. “The range of Italgru mobile harbour cranes starts from the IHC 320, with a minimum capacity of 25 tonnes, and is completed by the IHC 3160, with a maximum capacity of 160 tonnes.”

Staying focused
Demag states that it has “significantly reduced” the cost base in its port technology trade, while its order levels have been on the increase, particularly in the fourth quarter of the financial year. Within this, MHC business levels were particularly pleasing. The company re-entered talks on major automated terminal projects with several port and terminal operators; however, it states that no concrete orders have been received to date in this area. The company states of its overall performance in the financial year: “By rigorously focusing on efficient cash and working capital management, we repaid net debt in full in the financial year 2009/10 and even achieved a net cash position of EUR 7.2 million. Free cash flow before financing and restructuring payments amounted to EUR 25.0 million.” In January, Gottwald reported that it had been awarded a contract to supply a G HMK 8410 MHC to Puerto Angamos in Mejillones, Chile. The Generation 5 (Model 8) crane will be the largest Gottwald mobile harbour crane for container handling in the Americas. With the new crane, Puerto Angamos intends to significantly upgrade its container handling capabilities in view of the anticipated increases in vessel size at the port (the operator is expecting to service super post-Panamax vessels in future). The G HMK 8410 will be the second Gottwald machine at Puerto Angamos, where a Gottwald HMK 280 E crane has been in operation since 2002. Commercial operation is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2011. In September last year, a further, notable order for Gottwald came from customers in South Korea. Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co Ltd ordered two more 
Generation 4 cranes – one HMK 170 E and one HMK 260 E – while Dongbu Express acquired its third Generation 5, Model 4, G HMK 4306 B four-rope grab crane for professional bulk handling. Demag also boasts that it has noted strong order growth in the first quarter of this financial year. The Group’s order intake has surged by 53.9 percent year on year, and is up by 10.8 percent when compared to the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Group’s EBIT has comparatively increased by 36 percent year on year. Demag generated an order intake of EUR 284.0 million in the first quarter of the financial year 2010/2011 (in the same quarter of 2009/2010, the total was EUR 184.5 million). This improvement came from all areas of Demag’s business. The first quarter of 2010/11 showed further improvement for Demag in the port technology sector, thanks to an incremental demand in MHCs, which increased by a remarkable 109.3 percent. Revenue in the port technology segment rose by 38.7 percent (Q1 2009/2010: EUR&n
bsp;37.9 million). Port operations are as such key in the positive outlook of Demag for the coming years. The company states: “From today’s perspective, we aim to achieve Group revenue in the range of EUR 970.0 million to EUR 1.0 billion in the financial year 2010/2011. No later than financial year 2012/2013, Group revenue is expected to re-attain the record level reached in the financial year 2007/2008 (EUR 1,225.8 million). The new emerging-market product families are planned to deliver another sharp jump in revenue in the financial year 2014/2015.”

Significant orders for Sennebogen
German manufacturer Sennebogen has recorded two significant MHC orders from Eastern Europe – one for two 870 Crawler Special cranes operating at the Vladivostok Commercial Seaport in Russia, employed solely for coal handling. Equipped with a 21-meter boom, 4.5-cubic-meter clamshell grab and a 1-meter pylon, both machines operate continuously. The second notable Eastern European order came from the Port of Yuzhne in the Ukraine which, with water depths of up to 15 meters, is the largest harbour in the country and serves up to Capesize ships. Another notable deal for the company has been the delivery of 11 Sennebogen MHCs to MMK-Atakas port, a joint venture between the Russian steel giant MMK Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works and the Turkish Atakas Group within the Port of Iskenderun, Turkey. With operating weights of between 45 and 250 tonnes, the machines are used mainly for scrap handling tasks and also supply material to the steel works based at the port. Equipped with scrap metal grabs between 1.2 cubic meters and 12 cubic meters, clamshell grabs and hooks, the manufacturer states that the machines are extremely flexible and meet all requirements in the field of port materials handling. Each day, around 14,000 tonnes of material from ships of up to 60,000 dwt (Panamax size) are unloaded and around 20,000 tonnes are loaded at MMK-Atakas port.

Versatile and Fundamental
The abundance of news coming from the MHC market seems to be positive; indeed, manufacturers have the confidence to express genuine optimism about its development. And, given the versatility of MHCs and their importance to global maritime cargo handling, there’s good reason for this upbeat outlook.