First Kalmar STS cranes to West Africa

Cargotec has received its first orders for ship-to-shore cranes from the west African region.

The four Kalmar ship-to-shore cranes are set for delivery in the third quarter of 2012 to a range of ports in West Africa. The contract with terminal operator group Bollore includes an option for four more ship-to-shore models.

The cranes will be built to a single box boom type design, with an outreach of 47 m and a 30.5 m rail span. Their maximum lift capacity will be 60 tonnes under Bromma twin lift spreaders. The cranes will provide ship-to-shore gantry crane capacity in ports where handling is currently carried out by mobile cranes or the ships' own gear.

Bollore has 13 container terminals in Africa and is set to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to develop existing and new terminals in the next few years to meet the needs of fast-growing economies, including landlocked countries like Burkina Faso and Mali.