Tanger-Med equips itself with gantry cranes
16 April 2007
Read by 3038 persons
Tanger. Five gigantic quayside gantry cranes were presented to the press on Wednesday, April 4, by the concession company responsible for the construction and operation of the first container terminal of the port of Tanger-Med, (APM) Terminals Tangier.
For more than nine days, five quayside gantry cranes have been installed at the first container terminal of the new port of Tanger-Med. These gigantic metal structures made a 45-day journey from Shanghai (China) to reach their destination. This operation was followed on Wednesday, April 4, by the arrival of fifteen park gantry cranes.
The quayside gantry cranes are the first of their kind in Morocco and are part of the new generation of "Super-Post Panamax" cranes. With their 80-meter height and 145-meter span, these machines, weighing 1700 tons each, are designed to load and unload the world's largest container ships, with very high productivity levels. "Our objective is to be able to do around 30 loading and unloading operations per hour per gantry crane by 2008-2009," explained the general director of APM Terminals Tangier, Etienne Rocher. According to the terms of the concession agreement (for a period of 30 years) linking the Tanger Med Special Agency TMSA to APM Terminals Tangier, the latter has undertaken to equip the first container terminal with 8 quayside gantry cranes and 29 park gantry cranes, in addition to around fifty trucks. The delivery of this equipment is in accordance with the planned schedule, which will allow the first terminal to start its transshipment activities from July 2007.
The value of these gantry cranes represents the majority of the total investment of the concession company for the construction and operation of the first container terminal. "The establishment of the terminal requires a budget of 160 million euros, which more precisely allows the operation of the terminal's capacity of 1.4 million containers, the equivalent of twenty feet (TEU)... "We currently have around 140 people and we will have 700 people by the end of 2007. The objective is to optimize the capacity of our terminal by 2011-2012," stressed Mr. Rocher. In addition, the affiliation of APM Terminals Tangier to the AP Moller-Maersk group provides the project with the guarantee of technological and commercial expertise. In addition to its predictable economic impact, particularly on the northern region, the project aims to bring progress in areas as sensitive as vocational training and the participation of the Moroccan industrial and financial sector in all stages of its execution.
The achievement of these objectives is part of an approach of partnership and close collaboration with all stakeholders in the new Tanger-Med port project, and more particularly through the quality of the relationships between APM Terminals Tangier and the TMSA team. In a statement to ALM, the director of the port of Tanger (TMSA), Elmostafa Almouzani, stated that the port of Tanger-Med will be operational next July. "We are at more than 90% completion of the port of Tanger-Med," he specified, noting that the construction work on the ro-ro port has already begun and will take twenty-four months. "This port will be ready by the summer of 2009," he assured.
Published on 04/04/2007
Aujourdhui.ma
For more than nine days, five quayside gantry cranes have been installed at the first container terminal of the new port of Tanger-Med. These gigantic metal structures made a 45-day journey from Shanghai (China) to reach their destination. This operation was followed on Wednesday, April 4, by the arrival of fifteen park gantry cranes.
The quayside gantry cranes are the first of their kind in Morocco and are part of the new generation of "Super-Post Panamax" cranes. With their 80-meter height and 145-meter span, these machines, weighing 1700 tons each, are designed to load and unload the world's largest container ships, with very high productivity levels. "Our objective is to be able to do around 30 loading and unloading operations per hour per gantry crane by 2008-2009," explained the general director of APM Terminals Tangier, Etienne Rocher. According to the terms of the concession agreement (for a period of 30 years) linking the Tanger Med Special Agency TMSA to APM Terminals Tangier, the latter has undertaken to equip the first container terminal with 8 quayside gantry cranes and 29 park gantry cranes, in addition to around fifty trucks. The delivery of this equipment is in accordance with the planned schedule, which will allow the first terminal to start its transshipment activities from July 2007.
The value of these gantry cranes represents the majority of the total investment of the concession company for the construction and operation of the first container terminal. "The establishment of the terminal requires a budget of 160 million euros, which more precisely allows the operation of the terminal's capacity of 1.4 million containers, the equivalent of twenty feet (TEU)... "We currently have around 140 people and we will have 700 people by the end of 2007. The objective is to optimize the capacity of our terminal by 2011-2012," stressed Mr. Rocher. In addition, the affiliation of APM Terminals Tangier to the AP Moller-Maersk group provides the project with the guarantee of technological and commercial expertise. In addition to its predictable economic impact, particularly on the northern region, the project aims to bring progress in areas as sensitive as vocational training and the participation of the Moroccan industrial and financial sector in all stages of its execution.
The achievement of these objectives is part of an approach of partnership and close collaboration with all stakeholders in the new Tanger-Med port project, and more particularly through the quality of the relationships between APM Terminals Tangier and the TMSA team. In a statement to ALM, the director of the port of Tanger (TMSA), Elmostafa Almouzani, stated that the port of Tanger-Med will be operational next July. "We are at more than 90% completion of the port of Tanger-Med," he specified, noting that the construction work on the ro-ro port has already begun and will take twenty-four months. "This port will be ready by the summer of 2009," he assured.
Published on 04/04/2007
Aujourdhui.ma
