PORT OF SALALAH RECIEVES NEW CRANES
Port of Salalah has taken delivery of an additional four super post panamax quay cranes bringing the total to eight of the mammoth cranes received in 2009 and completing the super-structure for the ports existing six berths.
The ports latest cranes are identical to the cranes received in January 2009 and have twin-lift capability, an outreach of 68.5 meters across 23 containers and can hoist 65 tons. The addition of these cranes brings the ports total to 25 super post panamax gantry cranes and will increase the ports capacity to 6 million TEU (twenty foot container equivalent units) per annum.
Commissioning of the cranes is expected to take approximately one month and the port plans to have them operational by the end of April 2009. The commissioning will be done by a joint team made up of the ports Engineering Department, specialists from Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC), who manufactured the cranes, and engineers from APM Terminals Crane & Engineering Services.
Martijn van de Linde, Chief Executive Officer of Port of Salalah said “These are the most modern cranes in the world today. Port of Salalah continues to grow despite the tough current economic climate and this latest acquisition of equipment will allow us to provide additional capacity to handle the future growth in both transshipment and import and export cargo, whilst allowing us to improve efficiency and productivity to our existing customers during an important time in our development.”