KOCHI: In a major step towards realising the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), six rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs), to be installed at the terminal, reached Kochi on Saturday.
This is the first consignment of the fleet of 15 units to be deployed at Vallarpadam.
Manufactured by the Abu Dhabi-based Trans Gulf Port Cranes (TGPC), they were transported to Kochi as fully assembled units. These are the next generation cranes and each of them costs US$ 1.7 million.
The offloading of the cranes would be a roll-off operation from the barge after removal of the sea fastening.
These RTGs are claimed to be 30 percent more energy efficient as compared to conventional RTGs. They work on diesel gen-set mounted on the crane and are controlled through the latest systems of drives and PLCs developed by Siemens. They also incorporate a very high standard of safety and reliability. They are fitted with sensors to detect pedestrians or any other obstacles on the track which may prevent the movement of the crane. The crane management system provides all essential data for fault detection, maintenance and operational data.
The cranes are capable of lifting 41 tonnes under the spreader and can handle 20, 40 and 45 feet ISO containers from the container yards to the truck and vice- versa at a theoretical cycle speed of about 25 to 30 boxes per hour. They can also stack hi-cube containers in 6 rows of 1 over 5 high stacks.
These cranes weigh about 130 tonnes and are structurally designed for 2 million lifts.
The crane is operated from an ergonomically designed cabin with all the advanced safety features. It will also be incorporated with container positioning and auto steering with the aid of DGPS (Differential Geo Positioning Satellite System), which enables it to be accurate and highly productive.
The quay gantry cranes to be installed at the ICTT will have a total height of 125 metres when its boom is raised. The inspection of the cranes was done by World Cranes Services (WCS), the specialist third party inspection provider for the container crane industry. Apart from new cranes, four RTG cranes and two mobile harbour cranes, which are being used at the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal, will be shifted to Vallarpadam.
With this, ICTT will have 15 RTG cranes and six ship-to-shore cranes.