MCT puts faith in straddle carriers

Due for delivery between late 2007 and early 2008, the order includes 20 four-high CSC440 units and ten three-high CSC340 units. The new CSC440 unit will provide a 50% increase in stacking capacity over MCT’s existing three-high straddle carriers.

MCT, part of the Contship Italia Group, currently handles around 3m teu a year along its 3,300 m quay. Some 95% of this is transhipment cargo bound for the central Mediterranean region, meaning that most of its box movements tend to be between the feeder and mother ship berths. As well as allowing flexible handling on the quay, straddle carriers permit the terminal’s ship-to-shore cranes to discharge and pick up containers directly, rather than placing them on a chassis.

According to Ilkka Annala, vice president Kalmar Straddle Carriers, the straddle carrier system is ideally suited to transhipment hubs. “MCT is a high-performance straddle carrier terminal, recording approximately 30,000 teu per straddle carrier per year – a 50% increase over the 20,000 teu global average. This demonstrates the high productivity and performance levels offered by Kalmar straddle carriers, as well as the system’s suitability for large, modern transhipment hubs,” he commented.