In August 2010 Konecranes received two important orders for port cranes from the Indian terminal operator Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (VCTPL). The orders include four RTG (rubber tired gantry) cranes and two STS (ship-to-shore) cranes. The RTGs will be delivered in the summer of 2011 and the STS cranes at the end of 2011 to the Visakhapatnam Port, located on the east coast of India. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the orders.

VCTPL is a joint venture between DP World and United Liner Agencies of India (Ptv) Ltd. The company started its operations in 2003 in the Visapakhapatnam Port, which is one of the major ports in India. As the container traffic grows, VCTPL is expanding its terminal and therefore investing in new equipment.

“These orders are a very important reference in India,” says Sami Korpela, Country Manager, India. “We are not just supplying equipment to the customer, we are starting a long-term, strategic relationship. The STS cranes are the first quay cranes delivered to India with Konecranes’ controls. Also the RTGs are the first Konecranes RTGs to be supplied to India.”

The 8-wheel RTGs have a lifting capacity of 40 tons. The cranes can stack one over five containers high and six plus truck lane wide.

The STS cranes are of Post Panamax size. They have an outreach of 50 meters and can handle container ships with a capacity of 18 container rows across. The STS cranes will be equipped with Remote Support, a service that remotely monitors the cranes’ status and performance so that actions can be planned to improve performance, increase safety and maximize uptime.

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2009, Group sales totaled EUR 1,671 million. The Group has 9,600 employees, at 545 locations in 43 countries. Konecranes is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (symbol: KCR1V).