Terminal cranes upgraded in Morocco

The project is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2020, and to be completed by the second quarter of 2021.

Kalmar will be responsible for the planning, engineering and execution of the project, which involves heightening the four STS cranes by 11 metres and extending the booms by six metres. The upgrade will enable the terminal to serve mega-sized container vessels.

The Eurogate Tanger container terminal is located on the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco, making it a suitable transhipment hub for the western Mediterranean, Africa, and North and South America. It has a quay length of 812m, water depth of 18m and a terminal area of 400,000sq m, and is equipped to handle the newest generation of container ships. The terminal’s equipment fleet already includes several Kalmar systems, said the manufacturer, including rubber-tyred gantry cranes.

Andrea Cervia, CEO at Eurogate Tanger, said: "With this investment, which is the biggest since the commencement of operations in 2008, EGT will be ready from the second half of next year to accommodate the latest generation Ultra Large Container Ships with a capacity of 23,000 TEUs working up to 25 rows across. In this way we are looking to the future, because we intend to confirm and extend our role as the transshipment-hub of choice in the Mediterranean, enabling us to continue to offer a top-level service to our customers. We decided to partner with Kalmar once again because of the proven track record and technical expertise of their dedicated crane upgrades team."

Eduardo Prat, vice president of sales at Kalmar Automation Solutions, said: "Eurogate Tanger has been an important partner of ours for many years so we are delighted to be able to help them future-proof their operations ready for handling the next generation of mega-size vessels. Our track record and expertise in these kinds of crane upgrade projects is exemplary, and we are the only provider capable of completing the work in such a short timescale."