Konecranes RTGs and Largest STS Cranes for Port of Houston Authority

In May 2013, Konecranes received an order worth USD $56 million (EUR 43 million) from the Port of Houston Authority (PHA) in the U.S.. The order includes four Super Post Panamax Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes and three Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes. These will be the biggest Konecranes STS cranes ever built.  The STS cranes will be shipped to to PHA’s Barbours Cut Terminal in late 2014 and supplied during the first quarter of 2015, while the RTGs will be delivered to Bayport Terminal in spring 2014.

The PHA is the largest container port in the Gulf of Mexico. It is responsible for eight cargo terminals and one cruise terminal along the Houston Ship Channel and handles millions of tons of cargo a year. Konecranes delivered its first RTGs to PHA in 2003 and at present PHA has 49 Konecranes RTGs in its fleet.

”We have a long history with Konecranes,” said Roger Guenther, the Port Authority’s deputy executive director, operations. “We expect the cranes to be of the highest quality and productive for decades to come.”

”We have worked hard with our customers to get the availability figures above the current industry norm. We are very pleased that PHA chose Konecranes equipment,” says Juha Aatola, Konecranes’ general manager, STS Cranes.

The STS cranes ordered are semi-automated and come with Konecranes’ AC frequency control system. They include a ship profiling system, trim/list/skew system and LED lights. The cranes can serve ships of Super Post Panamax size, ie. container ships that are 22 containers wide. They have a lifting capacity of 66 t, an outreach of 64 m and have twin lift operation for maximum handling capacity.