In the past five years, PD Ports has invested over £60M at Teesport in developing, upgrading and enhancing capacity to meet the demands of its customers and position the Port as the northern gateway for containerised goods destined for the North of the UK. Teesport has experienced uplift in container volumes of 13% year on year since 2007. The port handled 420,000 TEU in 2014 making it the 2nd
largest container port in the North.

David Robinson, PD Ports’ Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are committed to continuing to invest in Teesport to ensure we have the right
infrastructure to support the growth of our business and those of our customers. We already have a strong operational platform with solid infrastructure and a state-of-the art terminal operating system. Teesport continues to be a leading player in the UK ports sector and these new cranes signify the next step in the Port’s development.”

Speaking about the order, Liebherr Container Cranes’ Managing DirectorPat O’Leary, said “Liebherr has been a commercial partner of PD Ports for over 25 years and during that time has supplied a number of STS cranes to Teesport. We are delighted to continue this partnership with the signing of a framework agreement for RTGs and the supply of these state-of-the-art machines to the Port. The combination of productivity technologies and numerous safety systems which are features of these RTGs will allow for increased box handling capacity and continued safety for personnel and equipment at Teesport.”

Every year, approximately 35,000 TEUs are loaded and unloaded for import and export at the PCH container packing station – and that number is growing.

From the major ports in New York, Vancouver, New Delhi, Singapore and Shanghai, the containers arrive at PCH in the heart of the port of Hamburg, where the company unloads mainly consolidated cargo, also known as LCL (Less-than-Container Load). At PCH the goods, which include crates of toys, pallets of insulation materials, barrels, steel, tractors, printing presses, luxury cars, helicopters and marine propellers, are turned over and transported by hauliers to recipients across Europe.

Up to 350 HGVs leave the 100,000 square meter facility at Wollkämmereistrasse, in the Hamburg suburb of Wilhelmsburg, every day. An especially secure hazardous materials area that meets all requirements of the Federal Immission Control Act allows even highly flammable goods to be stored. The company also processes FCL (Full Container Load), flat-rack and open-top containers for over-width and over-height heavy goods when required.

PCH now uses the latest generation of Hyster RS46-36CH ReachStackers, which meet the Stage IV/Tier 4 final emission standards, to transport containers on its premises. Currently, PCH has three of these big trucks in use, including the 1000th ReachStacker Hyster produced at its factory in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

“The first few months under tough operating conditions have shown us that the new Hyster ReachStackers really do use up to 25 percent less fuel than their predecessors – while delivering the same performance,” says PCH managing director, Klaus Wachsmann.

Thanks to the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technology used in Hyster engines, combined with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), these models require only a relatively low amount of urea (AdBlue). “The combination of technology and lower fuel consumption has allowed us to significantly reduce the operating cost of our trucks,” he adds.

A Cummins QSL9 engine delivering up to 370 hp / 276 KW provides the necessary power in the Hyster ReachStackers.

“So far, we are very pleased with the ReachStackers. Based on our positive experiences we will be increasing the number of our container handlers to a total of six Hyster machines,” he says.

The ReachStackers are also used to stack the 20- and 40-foot marine containers in the first, second and third row at the company’s empty depot.

Stevedoring company AHTAPOT Denizcilik handles a variety of scrap for the proprietors of the port using the latest in material handling technology as well as young women to operate the machines. Rehandling capacity is greater than before, and the work climate is continuously improving.

Zübeyde Pamuk operates these machines. The large, green material handler is her favorite machine. It is a SENNEBOGEN 880 EQ with an enormous operating range. A range of 35 m and the equipment kinematics allow her to transport scrap to ships such as the Julia Oldendorff. Today, it is bauxite, but with the right grapples, Zübeyde and her colleagues handle coal, plaster, grains, wood chips or cement clinker. With the machine, she reaches a handling capacity of 1,500 t per hour, reports Erkan Do?an, managing director of Ahtapot. That is more than many men have accomplished.

When asked whether or not that made women better operators, Do?an counters that she is not necessarily better, she just works differently. She
operates the machine in a more conservative way and is also interested in maintenance and servicing. If servicing takes too long, she wants to know why. “That’s something the men don’t do, and we think it’s good that the women identify so strongly with their machines”, lauded Do?an. The bottom line is that Zübeyde and her female colleagues can do a man’s job without difficulty, something that, not too long ago, was not commonplace in many regions of the world.

“We need women in these jobs for a lot of reasons. We have grown a lot since our founding in 1999 and now have 1,500 employees. We can’t fall into stereotypes, rather we need well qualified and motivated employees of both genders,” added Do?an.

Zübeyde feels most at home up in the machine. “In the beginning, it was like at Universal Studios – the size of the machine seemed unreal. I’ve
never operated such a large material handler before.” Since then, the giant machine has become a normal part of life and she would rather have no
other job. Inside the pleasantly air-conditioned comfort cab, she has both a comfortable work space and an important job in port handling.

“We also receive first-rate support from FORSEN, the SENNEBOGEN
sales and service partner in Istanbul, whose employees stand behind the
machine, its design, and our company. That is the best guarantee of good
service.”

After eight hours of work, Zübeyde climbs down from her machine. She
performs a quick check to make sure everything is in order, since she’ll be
handing the machine over to one of her colleagues on the next shift, Hüzün,
Pinar, Bengü or Sena. But she is looking forward to tomorrow, since she enjoys
working at the Port of Mersin.