Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. said it will spend $22 million to purchase 16 hybrid rubber tired gantries for Manila International Container Terminal.
The company led by businessman Enrique Razon Jr. said the purchase of new equipment was part of its $80-million capital equipment program for the flagship terminal.
ICTSI senior vice president and head of Asia-Pacific and MICT Christian Gonzalez said the new RTGs would be the first of their kind in the Philippine ports system.
“The new RTGs will improve terminal efficiency and allow us to match demand in terms of operational performance. Terminal utilization currently remains exceptional, and we see no signs of congestion despite the volume influx,” Gonzalez said.
“Just as important is that we can expect a minimum 40-percent reduction in carbon emissions and up to 60-percent better fuel economy. A side benefit is that the smaller engines mean reduced noise levels at the yard,” he said.
Manufactured by Japanese shipbuilder and equipment maker Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., the Mitsui Li-ion Hybrid RTG can stack one over five containers high and six containers wide, including truck roadway. It has a rated load of 40 metric tons.
The first batch is scheduled for delivery in November next year, with the remaining eight to be turned over by October 2019.
ICTSI is also set to commission five additional quay cranes by 2019, which include a pair of neo-Panamax cranes.
Upon completion, MICT will become the only terminal in the Philippines capable of servicing neo-Panamax boxships with capacities of up to 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.
“We are preparing for the era of super-sized ships. All the development we have in the pipeline will ensure MICT, the country’s premier container terminal, will be able to cope with the pressing demand and volume increase,” Gonzalez said.
MICT achieved a milestone in December 2016 with its first year-to-date two millionth TEU move.
This triggered a multi-billion peso capacity improvement commitment with the Philippine Ports Authority, requiring ICTSI to commission additional equipment and construct at least another berth by 2019.