Cranes arrive as Suez Canal container terminal prepares opening

Cranes arrive as Suez Canal container terminal prepares opening    Eight rubber-tired yard cranes have arrived at the Suez Canal Container Terminal, a new transshipment box facilities due to open at the northern end of the Suez Canal on Oct. 1, 2004.
   The new rubber-tired yard cranes will be the main handling equipment in the yard of the Suez Canal facility. The Suez Canal terminal has ordered five “super post-Panamax”
ship-to-shore cranes and 14 yard cranes from Noell. On completion of its phase one, the terminal will operate 12 quay cranes. The first of the “super post-Panamax” cranes is due to arrive in January, and the remaining equipment will arrive in stages during the first half of 2004.
   “Upon receiving the cranes, we will start an extensive recruitment and training program for our crane operators to be ready to work on the first vessels arriving in October next year,” said Philip Littlejohn, managing director of Suez Canal Container Terminal.
   Phase one will feature 1,200 meters of quay line and a capacity of over 2.5 million TEUs. Phase two will include an extension of the quay by a further 1,200 meters and will increase the total capacity of the terminal to more than 5 million TEUs.
   Suez Canal Container Terminal is a private joint-venture company owned by ECT of Rotterdam (itself owned by Hutchison Port Holdings), APM Terminals (owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk), the Danish International Investment Funds, and Egyptian public and private sector entities.