Tangier Medgate, Portland order Kalmar cranes, reachstackers

Tangier Medgate, Portland order Kalmar cranes, reachstackers Tangier Medgate SA, a container terminal joint venture of Eurogate, Contship Italia, Mediterranean Shipping Co., CMA CGM and its new Moroccan subsidiary Comanav, has ordered 11 E-One rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes from Sweden’s Kalmar Industries.
   The units, 7+1 wide and 1-over-5 high, are outfitted with Bromma twinlift spreaders and Kalmar's auto-steering and container position verification system, Smartrail. They will be delivered to the terminal by May 2008 in time for the opening of the new Tangier Mediterranean Port in July of that year.
   The $2 billion Tangier Mediterranean Port project started in 2002 and will feature an oil storage facility, a cereals terminal, a passenger port and a container terminal with a capacity of three million containers. The Morrocan government plans to spend up to $18 billion to improve the area's infrastructure to take advantage of the country’s status as the only North African country with free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union.
   The Port of Portland has ordered three DRF450-65S5 reachstackers from Kalmar Industries with an option for eight more. The units are scheduled for delivery in October.
   After switching its operation from masted container handlers to reachstackers in 1999, Portland employs 16 Kalmar DRS4531-S5 reachstackers.
   The Oregon port handled 214,484 TEUs in 2006, making it the 17th-largest volume U.S. container port.