Gottwald crane Guayaquil

Gottwald's Rainer Buessing and Gustavo Cercós of CGSA with the new crane

The Ecuadorean fruit export trade has received a boost with the news that Contecon Guayaquil SA (CGSA), which operates Guayaquil Container and Multipurpose Terminals (GCMT) – a major exit point for Ecuadorean banana, mango, papaya and pineapple exports through the Port of Guayaquil – has successfully installed a third mobile harbour crane from German company Gottwald Port Technology.

The Model 6 crane went into operation at the Port of Guayaquil last month and is being used to handle containers.

The Port of Guayaquil is Ecuador's main international trading gateway and its recent transition from public to private sector management and operation has heralded a major new era of investment for the port, according to Gustavo Cercós, engineering director at CGSA.

'ICTSI is investing heavily in facilities improvement and equipment and the first two new Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes, which were acquired immediately after the takeover of the port in 2007, allowed it to establish efficient container operation in due time,' he said.

'Our experience with Gottwald has been exceptionally good, and this applies equally to technology, service and short delivery times,' Mr Cercós continued. 'That's why we have decided to rely on Gottwald again to further expand our capacities.'

'Our business in Ecuador has been developing very satisfactorily in recent years,' commented Rainer Buessing, regional product manager at Gottwald.