Düsseldorf, 26 October 2005
– The Wide Span Gantry (WSG) series was incorporated in its product line and then
launched onto the market with success in early 2003 by Gottwald Port Technology, worldwide market
leader in the field of Mobile Harbour Cranes. The WSG series, designed for operations at river, sea
and rail terminals, can be used for a variety of applications to ensure efficient cargo handling
and stackyard management.
Wide Span Gantries on Waterways
Since the WSG market launch, Gottwald Port Technology has received orders for a total of
12 Wide Span Gantries that are primarily in operation along the Rhine – at COBI
Container-Terminal in Birsfelden near Basel, Switzerland, at TriPort Container-Terminal at
Kaiserwörthhafen in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and at RhineWaal Terminal in Emmerich, Germany, for
example. At these inland Rhine ports, the Gottwald Wide Span Gantries are used for trimodal cargo
handling between ship, freight train and truck, and for stackyard management.
With Hupac, Gottwald on Land and on Shore – WSGs at Inland Terminals
The five Wide Span Gantries supplied to the recently extended Busto Arsizio-Gallarate
rail terminal operated by the Swiss combined transport operator Hupac have clearly demonstrated the
suitability of Gottwald WSGs not only for the use on waterways, but also for intermodal container
transfer between rail and road. On 9 September 2005, the new system began cargo handling
production.
Busto Arsizio-Gallarate Terminal for Combined Transport
The Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal near the north Italian metropolis of Milan, where
containers, semi-trailers and swap bodies are loaded from truck to train, has considerably extended
its capacity in order to provide effective support for transferring freight from road to rail. With
an overall initial handling capacity of 23 train pairs a day, growing to 30 mid-term, the
new system lays the foundations for continued expansion of combined transport, and counts as one of
the most important cargo handling terminals of this type south of the Alps.
Gottwald Wide Span Gantry Cranes
In the first expansion phase, the terminal was extended to include the five WSG cranes
supplied by the Gottwald Port Technology. A sixth WSG will also be supplied by Gottwald when Hupac
is ready to cash in on this option to complete the extension of the terminal. There are two major
factors in favour of Gottwald products: firstly, in its present terminal, Hupac already operates
six cranes supplied by the former companies, Kranservice Rheinberg (KSR) and its predecessor
Aumund. Secondly, the new Gottwald cranes are linked up to a computer network and
semi-automated.
To meet customer expectations, Gottwald Port Technology has used a dual approach for the WSG
cranes: on the one hand, Gottwald has integrated many years of know-how transferred from KSR
(Kranservice Rheinberg) and its predecessor, Aumund, into the field of Wide Span Gantries, and, on
the other hand, the company has focused on improving and updating all the crane components. “Thanks
to decisive improvements in the new series in terms of both steel structure and mechanical
engineering, the electrical concept and the possibility of integration into the existing logistics
systems, new application possibilities are opening up for Wide Span Gantries. The order from Hupac
also demonstrates, once again, that our strategy of using innovative products to conquer new market
segments is successful,” stated Dr. Mathias Dobner, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Gottwald Port
Technology in Düsseldorf.
Technical Features – Intelligent, High-Performance Technology
The five new cranes of identical design, which started commercial operation for Hupac in
September, are double-rail Wide Span Gantries and perform the same tasks as the existing KSR and
Aumund cranes. The new cranes in the WSG series have a span width of 38 m, and are each
equipped with a 9-m-long cantilever arm. The lifting height is 12.8 metres which enables
one-over-three container handling. The lifting capacity on the ropes is 57 tonnes while the
telescopic spreader will allow loads of 41 tonnes to be moved. The portal travels at a speed
of 140 m/min and the cargo is raised and lowered at a speed of up to 30 m/min.
The process known as load trimming, the possibility of inclining the load in the longitudinal
axis, is also a completely new feature for cranes serving train terminals. Trimming is particularly
in demand for handling semi-trailers with gripper arm gear, since they are normally inclined and
can damage trucks when gripper arm gear is used. Trimming is made possible by the use of two hoists
specially developed and configured for this purpose by Gottwald Port Technology.
The crane bridge consists of several segments that were connected at the installation site by bolted flanges. Here once again, Dr. Mathias Dobner: "With this design, we dispense with welding the assembly on the construction site, and thus considerably reduce the crane erection times. In addition, thanks to the design, the flange connections make use of anti-fatigue bolts and are thus completely maintenance-free. This order for Italy also is also special in yet another way: Gottwald has supplied state-of-the-art software packages that enable all five cranes to be integrated into the higher-ranking logistics system.”
The five Gottwald cranes, for example, have an interface to the Goal software from Hupac, for
fast search and secure positioning of the load. It is also possible to fit the cranes with an
interface to the Hupac electronic signal and control system called ACS to prevent the crane and the
train from moving at the same time. State-of-the-art software enables remote inquiry of diagnostic
and productivity data.
Dr. Giorgio Pennacchi, Director of Engineering at the Hupac group, is also very pleased with the
innovative technology and performance of the cranes. He points out that "the cranes have an
automatic function for reading off the position of the container units located anywhere in the
terminal area. In addition, the kinetic energy arising during operation is utilised, the generated
power being regeneratively fed back into the supply system.” Considerable energy savings are also
possible thanks to the low weight of the WSGs, approximately 15% lighter than conventional
cranes.
Increased Capacity with Gottwald Wide Span Gantry Cranes
"Our Busto Arsizio-Gallarate is becoming increasingly significant as a rail hub where
both Italian container shuttle traffic, and combined transport crossing the Alps, converge. Thanks
to the improved capacity provided by the new cranes, we will be optimally equipped to deal with the
further growth in combined transport,” said Dr. Giorgio Pennacchi. Following the expansion, the
Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal with eleven container handling platforms and a current total of
eleven cranes is one of the biggest terminals for combined transport in Europe. In the starting
phase, up to 23 train pairs a day are processed, over a total area of 240,000 m²,
corresponding to an increase in capacity of 50% compared to the 15 train pairs processed by
the previous system. Mid-term, the operational capacity can be increased to 30 train pairs a
day. This corresponds to a daily handling volume of approx. 1,500 road consignments.
Wide Span Gantries – Many Possible Applications
Dr. Mathias Dobner summarises: "The use of WSG cranes on waterways on the one hand, and
now purely for inland use on the other, clearly shows how broad the range of applications is.”
Gottwald Wide Span Gantries are suitable for:
Wide Span Gantries can also be combined with other Gottwald products, with HMK Mobile Harbour
Cranes, for example, to form compact terminals at sea ports.
As an option, Gottwald Port Technology also supplies its Wide Span Gantries as part of an
integrated overall system which includes all the necessary process control software for managing
container storage facilities. The package comprises several modular components. The basic version
maps the container storage area, communicates transport jobs to the cranes as they are received,
registers completion of the move back to the terminal control system, manages error messages and
also manages the crane anti-collision system. Additional optional modules can be provided to manage
the orders for the container cranes and to optimise stackyard moves.
About Hupac
With nine companies in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, 3,519 of their
own rail carriages, 13 locomotives and ten directly-managed intermodal terminals in
Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, the Hupac group is one of the leading providers of
intermodal transport in Europe. In the IT area, Hupac has developed and integrated its own software
solution, Goal, for combined transport in Europe, and has also developed the customer information
system Cesar. In 2004, the transport services provided by the 294 Hupac employees covered over
800 trains a day, 448,000 road consignments, and 7.7 million tonnes of cargo
(net).
About Gottwald Port Technology
Gottwald Port Technology GmbH, based in Düsseldorf, is the world-wide leading supplier of
Mobile Harbour Cranes. Gottwald also provides numerous services and products in the area of port
logistics ranging from consulting, software and project management to Automated Guided Vehicles
(AGV), Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC) and Wide Span Gantries (WSG). Gottwald presently has a
workforce of more than 700 employees in Düsseldorf and its turnover for the financial
year 2004/2005 (as of Sept. 30) was € 237 million.
Further information available from:
Gottwald Port Technology GmbH
Postfach 18 03 43
40570 Düsseldorf, Germany
Peter Klein
Tel.: +49 211 7102-3355
Fax: +49 211 7102-3660
Mobile: +49 173 722 10 74
peter.klein@gottwald.com
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