All aboard!

Kalmar has partnered with CMA Terminals, a subsidiary of CMA CGM, to supply three Kalmar hybrid straddle carriers for SAMR, its terminal on Réunion Island. The order was booked in Cargotec’s Q4 2023, with delivery scheduled for Q4 2024.

Réunion Island is now the CMA CGM Group’s strategic hub in the Indian Ocean. CMA CGM Group reinforced its commitment with the creation of its Indian Ocean transhipment hub in 2016. Port Réunion has become France’s fourth container port. CMA Terminal currently operates multiple Kalmar diesel-electric straddle carriers at its terminal in the port.

“Kalmar and CMA Terminals have a long and successful history of collaboration. We are proud that they have selected our proven hybrid straddle carrier solution – which can cut fuel consumption by up to 40% compared to equivalent dieselpowered machines – to support them with their transition to more eco-efficient cargo-handling operations,” said Karri Keskinen, head, Global Sales, Horizontal Transportation, Kalmar.

PACECO

The Port of Alicante (Spain) will integrate 1MillionBot Marítimo with PACECO POSEIDONs TOS (Terminal Operating System), funded through the Ports 4.0 Puertos del Estado (Spanish Port System).

1MillionBot Maritime, an advanced platform for intelligent virtual assistants, has been designed to adapt to the complex needs of the port logistics environment. Its integration with PACECO POSEIDON’s TOS (Terminal Operating System) represents a qualitative leap in the management of container movements, enabling more efficient and secure control, significantly reducing operating times and improving the user experience.

At the Port of Alicante, the application of artificial intelligence through 1MillionBot Marítimo has resulted in an increase in efficiency and safety. Stevedores can now record their operations using only their voice. This voice command capability, based on natural language processing, increases the efficiency of operations while enhancing safety, freeing operators from the need to dive their attention from critical tasks.

The most revolutionary feature of 1MillionBot Maritime is its ability to receive and execute voice commands. This not only represents a technological breakthrough but will redefine daily operations at port terminals. With voice as the primary tool, the inconvenience of manual interfaces is eliminated, allowing for greater focus and agility in container management.

Voice automation opens up a range of possibilities for other ports and terminals, providing a flexible and adaptable solution for different environments and operational needs.

GANTREX

Gantrex Group, a company supported by Argos Wityu, has acquired Liftcom.

Argos Wityu has been Gantrex’s majority shareholder since 2015. Since the acquisition, Argos Wityu has been supporting the group in its growth.

For example, in 2023, the group: reached a record performance of €113m sales at record-high profitability, on the back of various strategic initiatives, such as successfully rolling-out its Port Crane Services strategy organically over the majority of its existing teams, with the ambition to become a global PCS player, accelerated its buy & build-strategy activity on all continents, and following the successful integration of ABS in 2022 with the purpose to create a global network of PCS hubs.

Liftcom was founded by Jethro Van Eersel over 15 years ago in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The company has grown into a leading PCS company with customers reaching far outside the Dutch borders. Today, Liftcom mainly focuses on inspecting, maintaining, repairing and moving of new and operational port equipment. Its team of engineers carry out load testing, periodic inspections, life cycle analyses, accident recovery and refurbishments of port equipment on a daily basis.

“Liftcom was created from a market need to provide reliable, top-quality services where safety is non-negotiable, quality is uncompromising and customer satisfaction is paramount. From the first conversation with Jethro it was clear that we share the same purpose at Gantrex. To maximize customer’s productivity and crane lifetime, all the while maintaining impeccable safety standards. I have rarely seen such dedication and commitment, and personally very much look forward to working alongside Jethro and his team,” said Maarten Impens, CEO, Gantrex Group.

This acquisition is the second for Gantrex in its PCS activity and will function as the second PCS hub for the North-Western region in Europe. This growing activity already contributes significant revenue to the Group ´s top line and is expected to double in profitable turnover by 2026. Integrating Liftcom will allow to reinforce Gantrex’ position in the Dutch market and in Europe’s leading port in Rotterdam, a port with over 100 ship-to-shore cranes and 300-yard cranes spread over multiple terminals.

“After 16 years of relying on our own strength, knowledge and persistence, the time has come in 2024 to join forces and knowledge and seek cooperation with a partner who thinks about quality and core values in the same way as we do,” said Jethro Van Eersel, MD, Liftcom.

“Gantrex was already known to us as a good supplier with high-quality products, so when we were asked to think about collaboration, it quickly fit with our ideas. We are grateful and proud that our customers have given us the opportunity to develop as a service supplier. And we hope that with the acquisition of Liftcom into Gatrex we can continue and expand our services. We look forward to a great collaboration and a bright future.”

MI-JACK EUROPE

Mi-Jack Europe AccuSteer uses DGNSS to steer machines down a predefined path. Operators can now focus on picking and placing their loads, increasing productivity up to 25% while reducing operator fatigue. It can track accurately on snow-covered ground and eliminates damage from crane path collisions. Touchscreen display makes system monitoring easy.

Clients include deMoya Group and Leware Construction which used the AccuSteer Differential GPS navigation system for a lane-widening project on the Caloosahatchee River Bridge in Central Florida.

The interstate bridge sees an average of 72,000 cars a day, and in addition to maintaining the traffic flow, contractors had to ensure that sensitive areas of the environment are protected. A small island under the bridge, the Caloosahatchee Wildlife Refuge, is government-protected land and can’t be disturbed.

The construction team used a pair of Mi-Jack MJ70 Travelift cranes with an 83- foot, 6-inch inside clear width. The cranes straddled the bridge, with one set of tires on the East span, and the other on the West span. Contractors were concerned about how to keep a 92-foot wide machine inside its allocated runway while driving on two separate bridges in a continual arc and 3.5% grade.

Mi-Jack Products proposed installing its AccuSteer Differential GPS navigation system, which collects information on the crane’s position using two GPS receivers fixed to each Travelift crane and receives position correction data from a strategically located base station. In this case, a solarpowered base station was placed at the peak of the bridge outside the lanes of traffic.

The AccuSteer Navigation Processor generates steering correction data for the crane’s Electronic Control System (ECS) which is translated into crane movements. That process allowed the cranes to travel along a GPS-generated pathway to within plus or minus two inches of the center line of the tire. Mi-Jack was even able to extend the mapped tracking line another 200 feet beyond the bridge for one of the cranes to facilitate the unloading of material from trucks in the interstate highway’s median, and allow the operator a smooth steering transition back onto the bridge. The accuracy of the AccuSteer system is within two centimeters. The system calculates position up to 20 times per second.