PTP said larger vessels placed 'mounting pressure on terminals' to keep up efficiencies.

 

Kalmar's Smartrail will be installed to steer the RTGs along set tracks using global positioning system technology, relieving the driver of the need to steer and allowing him to travel at maximum speed between lifts and concentrate on box moves. The integrated position detection system automatically logs the new position of a container after it has been moved or placed in the stack.

 

PTP chief executive Mohd Sidik Osman said the upgrade would not affect the port's operations, and would be installed without interrupting terminal work. He repeated his projection that its throughput this year would exceed 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), after surpassing 2.51 million TEUs in the first nine months this year.

 

A similar system has been installed by Kalmar in Jebel Ali for the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA).

 

PTP said earlier it expects to complete its second stage expansion by mid-2004, boosting its annual handling capacity to about 6 million TEUs by adding two new 360m berths - the first of eight planned.