On the 15th of November, the Board of Commissioners of the Virginia Port Authority approved the award of contracts to Konecranes for 86 Automated Stacking Cranes (ASCs) in two contracts. The signing of the contracts took place on the 17th of November.

The award covers the provision of 86 ASCs in two contracts, the first for 60 ASCs for Norfolk International Terminals and the second for 26 ASCs for Virginia International Gateway. Deliveries are scheduled in phases for 2018-2020. The value of the contracts exceeds EUR 200 million, making this the largest deal ever won by Konecranes in its history.

The Virginia Port Authority, marketed as The Port of Virginia, is the fifth largest port in the USA, and is one of the largest economic engines for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The port has experienced record growth over the past two years and is in the midst of two large-scale infrastructure projects at its largest container terminals. Virginia Governor Terry R. McAuliffe said, “Once the construction is done and these cranes are in place and operational, our port will have the capacity to process an additional 1 million containers annually, have the channel depth to handle the biggest ships in the Atlantic trade and double-stack rail service offered by Norfolk Southern and CSX to some of the nation’s most important markets.”

The agreement between Konecranes and the VPA covers two projects. The first is redevelopment of container handling operations at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT). The second is expansion at Virginia International Gateway (VIG). Konecranes supplied the Automated Stacking Crane system currently working at Virginia International Gateway. It has been working, reliably and productively, for ten years.

Both projects involve the establishment of new automated container handling operations. Konecranes will supply the Automated Stacking Cranes (ASCs) based on Automated Rail Mounted Gantry cranes (ARMGs). Sixty ASCs will be delivered to NIT. They will stack containers 1-over-5, 9 containers wide. Twenty-six ASCs will be delivered to VIG. They will stack containers 1-over-5, 8 containers wide. Globally, Konecranes has delivered 174 ASCs of the same type in 11 projects.

“Konecranes is able to take complete responsibility for this type of very large delivery because the company has extensive crane knowledge and experience from similar large projects,” stated John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of The Port of Virginia. “The product is field-proven, the delivery is on-time and ultimately, on-budget. We’re looking forward to putting them into use and further increasing our ability to serve as an economic engine for the Commonwealth.”
“I’m proud of the great confidence that The Port of Virginia has placed in us. We will make sure that we deserve their confidence as these projects move forward and the new terminals go online,” said Panu Routila, President and CEO of Konecranes.

The Virginia concept is the benchmark
Mika Mahlberg, Senior Vice President, Head of BU Port Cranes, Konecranes, added: “Konecranes supplied the Port of Virginia’s current automated stacking crane system in 2007. The concept we developed with the Port of Virginia at the time, the ‘Virginia Concept’, has established itself as the benchmark around the world. Since 2007, every new automated stacking crane container terminal has used the Virginia Concept to a greater or lesser degree.”

Strong in the USA

The USA is a strategically important country for Konecranes across many industries, including container handling. With its Americas headquarters in Springfield, Ohio, Konecranes has over 2,100 employees in the USA and branch offices in 44 states that carry out sales and service activities.

About Konecranes
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 2015, Group sales totaled EUR 2,126 million. The Group has 11,100 employees at 600 locations in 48 countries. Konecranes is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (symbol: KCR1V).