APM Terminals has announced that it is building a new container terminal at Maasvlakte II in the Port of Rotterdam, which its says 'sets the pace for new terminal designed and customer satisfaction levels'.
The facility, which is due to open in November 2014, will boast container handling equipment that offers high productivity levels and will be the safest and most advanced in the world, according to APM.
'Our terminal design engineers worked with customers and studied ports worldwide and identified the area for quantum leap improvement and how to better optimise container yard operations,' stated Frank Tazelaar, managing director for APM Terminals Maasvlakte II. 'Too often, quayside crane productivity is hampered by container yard activities not keeping pace.
'Managing thousands of containers that are discharged or loaded while a vessel is at the quay is an area we are targeting for higher productivity results for our customers,' Tazelaar added. 'We have designed the terminal to serve the largest containerships in the world with higher productivity and service level consistency day-in, day-out while operating in a safe, environmentally-friendly way. Our estimates show we can deliver 25-50 per cent productivity improvement results for our customers versus conventional terminal designs.'
The terminal design concept is based on using ship-to-shore cranes that unload containers from the vessel and place them directly onto a fleet of Lift Automated Guided Vehicles, APM explained.
This ability to lift the container off the vehicle and place it into a storage rack system is the first of its kind in the world.
