Shipping to the shore

Beyond the prospective need to berth Eastern ships, the port already handles Columbia’s exports, including manufactured goods, sugar, tobacco, coffee and petrol.

The Columbian economy is currently charging ahead at 5.5% growth thanks to the expansion of local credit, low interest rates and fixed capital formation. Rising consumption is driving an upswing in container traffic through the port of Cartegena. According to market research firm Business Monitor International, container traffic is projected to rise 12% to 1.19 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in 2012.

The Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Cartagena (Regional Port Society of Cartagena, SPRC) projected in 2007 that its Manga terminal would be at full handling capacity by 2009, and so set about preparing an 86 hectare quayside area called Contecar, to meet the growing need in time. The newly developed port is being outfitted to meet the future requirement for handing post-Panamax vessels.

SPRC needed more equipment to service the cargo on these ships, so it ordered 34 RTGs, chosing Kalmar Zero Emission E-One2 RTGs and STS cranes. These are the first such models operating in South America, says manufacturer Cargotec.

“Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Cartagena is a leading South American terminal operator currently operating with one of the largest Kalmar RTG fleets globally,” says Dan House, Cargotec’s managing director for Latin America, “The order is a great milestone for Cargotec's growing business in South America.”

Adding fuel savings to the port’s projected earnings, the 24 Kalmar E-One2 Zero Emission RTG cranes are electrically powered using an automated busbar connection. Kalmar super post-Panamax STS cranes also feature optimised hoisting speeds that reduce energy consumption, Cargotec says.

Jumbo Shipping transported the immense Kalmar STS cranes, and seven of the RTGs, from Taicang, China to Cartagena for Cargotec on its vessel, the Jumbo Javelin. Because of the large dimensions of the STS cranes, with some pieces weighing as much as 1,000t, some elements of the crane reached 80m above the vessel’s deck and stretching out 30m from the starboard side of the vessel.

Jumbo and its client worked together to engineer special support constructions on the ship’s deck and sea-fastening structures for the crane parts protruding from the vessel. After positioning the lower portal and upper structure of the first crane on deck separately, Jumbo lifted the second crane’s middle piece on deck via a tandem lift.

This careful positioning also made sure crane parts were strategically tilted to ensure protrusions didn’t make contact with water during transport.

Jumbo calculated the best sea route to avoid waves and wind using SPOS and Octopus systems, and after verifying with MetoConsult, a European weather forecasting company.

Thanks to Jumbo’s planning, the first batch of Kalmar cranes have been delivered to Cartagena on schedule, with order completion scheduled for Q2 2012.