APM Terminals (APMT) has signed an agreement for the construction and delivery of four ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes and 14 automated rail-mounted gantry cranes (ARMGs) for its new APMT Vado terminal now under construction on Italy’s Ligurian coast.
The new terminal, the first new major port construction in Italy in several decades, is scheduled to open in January, 2018 with an annual throughput capacity of 800,000 TEU, and the ability to handle vessels up to 18,000 TEU capacity.
The Italian government is providing more than US$340 million for civil works for the project, with APMT investing more than $170 million in the new terminal which will create 450 new jobs when operations commence.
In 2014, the ports of northern Italy’s Liguria range, including La Spezia, Genoa and Savona/Vado, handled a combined 3.5 million TEU, representing an increase of approximately 6% compared with 2013.
Carlo Merli, Managing Directr of APMT, said: “This crane and container-handling equipment order is a very important milestone in the development of APMT Vado, and the future of the Savona-Vado area.
“This shore-side infrastructure is essential to the development of new logistics networks and inland transportation possibilities for Italy as the Ligurian coast becomes accessible to the global shipping fleet’s largest vessels.”
Vessels of up to 14,000 TEU capacity are now calling the Ligurian coast facilities as larger container ships are introduced into the Far East/Europe trade lane, the world’s busiest.
The APMT global terminal network, the largest terminal operator in the Mediterranean Sea, is expanding into the Ligurian coast as part of the port’s master plan to create new global supply chain access to markets in Northern Italy, Southern France, Switzerland and Germany.
The new terminal, which will handle both containerised and liquid bulk cargoes, will be integrated operationally with the existing 275,000 annual TEU capacity Vado Reefer Terminal facility, which was acquired by APMT in August, 2015.
The STS cranes are expected for delivery in March, 2017, while the ARMGs are scheduled to arrive the following month.
The terminal operator was previously in talks to invest in the Port of Veracruz, Mexico, where the country hopes to pour US$1.3 billion into 4-5 of its container terminals.
(Source: APMT)
