APM Terminals has signed an agreement for the construction and delivery of four ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes and 14 automated rail-mounted gantry cranes (ARMGs), for the new Vado terminal currently under construction on Italy’s Ligurian coast.
The new terminal, the first new major port construction in Italy in several decades, is scheduled to open in January 2018 with an annual throughput capacity of 800,000 TEUs, and the ability to handle vessels up to 18,000 TEU capacity.
The Italian government is providing €300m for civil works on the project, and APM Terminals is investing €150m on the new terminal which will create 450 new jobs when operations commence.
In 2014, the ports of northern Italy’s Liguria range, including La Spezia, Genoa and Savona/Vado, handled a combined 3.5m TEUs, representing an increase of approximately 6 per cent compared with the previous year.
“This crane and container handling equipment order is a very important milestone in the development of APM Terminals Vado, and the future of the Savona-Vado area” stated APM Terminals Vado managing director Carlo Merli. “This shore-side infrastructure is essential to the development of new logistics networks and inland transportation possibilities for Italy as the Ligurian coast becomes accessible to the global shipping fleet’s largest vessels.'
The new terminal, which will handle both containerised and liquid bulk cargoes, will be integrated operationally with the existing 275,000 annual TEU capacity Vado Reefer Terminal facility, which was acquired by APM Terminals in August 2015. The STS cranes are expected for delivery in March of 2017, while the ARMGs are scheduled to arrive the following month.
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