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Following the positive results achieved with the first four Gottwald ASCs at Antwerp Gateway, 10 more cranes of the same design are scheduled to start commercial operation by the end of 2008. |
Düsseldorf, 30 October 2007 – Order intake in first nine months of 2007 has been very satisfactory for Gottwald Port Technology GmbH (Gottwald). Not only that the company has sold more than 60 Harbour Cranes, 49 of which were Generation 5 cranes, indicating that the new series has been well received by the market. Also Gottwald’s second business sector, which includes terminal automation and systems integration with a large portfolio of hardware and software as well as consulting services, has been progressing dynamically. This progress is reflected in a follow-up contract for the newly developed Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC) for the Antwerp Gateway Terminal in Belgium. In addition, Gottwald and its subsidiary TBA, Delft, The Netherlands, have been chosen to supply software solutions for the new Euromax Terminal in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Following the excellent results achieved with the first four ASC cranes for two stack modules at the Antwerp Gateway Terminal that is operated by a consortium headed by DP World, Gottwald has received an order for a further 10 ASC cranes of the same design for five stack modules. The cranes are scheduled to start commercial operation by the end of 2008.
According to Bruno De Jonghe, Director Projects and Technical Services Europe/ Africa at DP World, the initial results with the first ASCs, which were handed over to the customer officially in June 2007 after thorough testing under real-life terminal conditions, have been extremely satisfactory. “We have integrated the ASC cranes step-by-step into the terminal operation. Within a short period, the cranes have proven to be very beneficial in terms of productivity, safety, reliability, cost efficiency and environmental-friendly operation. The interplay between the ASCs and the straddle carriers functions smoothly. The foundations have been laid to proceed with our strategy to gradually change the container stack operation from straddle carriers to ASCs and to implement Gottwald ASCs in the upcoming terminal expansion,” says De Jonghe. “All in all, Gottwald has fulfilled our expectations completely, not only in terms of crane performance, but also in terms of cooperation in this joint project, aiming at achieving high productivity by automation."
“We’re pleased to be continuing our long relationship with Antwerp Gateway, a high-performance terminal,” says Dr. Mathias Dobner, Gottwald’s CEO. “This follow-up order will serve as an important reference and demonstrates the suitability of our fully new concept which incorporates a number of groundbreaking features, such as the ‘twin ASC’ design and the rigid beam, just to mention two examples.”
Gottwald’s ASC cranes, working as so-called "twin ASCs" on a single set of rail tracks, allow
terminal operators to save a significant amount (up to 18%) of space compared to other well-known
configurations such as the "cross-over twin" (two ASCs operating on two sets of rail tracks in each
stack module or "tri" ASCs (three ASCs operating on two sets of rail tracks in each stack module).
Furthermore, the
1-over-5 solution at Antwerp Gateway, spanning nine rows of containers, provides excellent
stack density and guarantees the best possible area utilisation. Another particularly innovative
feature is the rigid guiding beam for perfect load control, guaranteeing safe operation, fast and
accurate positioning even at wind forces of 10 Bft., eliminating the need of time-consuming rope
adjustments and ensuring longer service life compared with other ASC solutions. Naturally, the ASCs
also employ the stack management software (ASC-MS) developed in-house at Gottwald.
During the past five months, Gottwald’s subsidiary TBA has been steering a successful course in the field of software solutions. Europe Container Terminals (ECT), member of the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) Group, has – contrary to its previous plans – chosen the proven technology and expertise of TBA and US-based Navis for the terminal software systems to be implemented at its new, fully-automated Euromax Terminal currently being built at Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte. While Navis will provide the Terminal Operating System (TOS), TBA is responsible for supplying the management and navigation software for the AGVs, ASCs and quay cranes at Euromax. This decision is in line with ECT’s ultimate goal – to have one single uniform terminal automation system at all its Maasvlakte-based terminals. The TEAMS software being supplied by TBA has already demonstrated its capability in a proof-of-concept phase recently completed with flying colours at Euromax. Within four months, TEAMS was controlling all the movements of the Euromax fleet of the first 28 AGVs, ensuring collision-free routing, high-speed container handling, accurate positioning and efficient failure management
In addition to providing Management and Navigation Software for the Euromax Terminal, Gottwald was contracted in 2005 to supply 96 economical and environmental-friendly diesel-electric E-AGVs, 48 units of which have already been supplied to Euromax. The award of this contract was based on ECT’s excellent experience with the Gottwald AGVs in use in its Delta Terminal.
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