Lyttelton Port purchases new straddles

21 May 2004

Lyttelton Port purchases new straddles

Investing in future growth at its container terminal, Lyttelton Port Company has placed an order for four new Kalmar straddle carriers at a cost of $5M.

Commenting on the investment, Chief Executive Peter Davie said, “We are taking a long-term approach to building the port’s assets, and the purchase of four new straddles is one of the first steps in our overall plan to provide fast, efficient turnaround for our customers.

The straddles are expected to arrive in January and will both assist in improving service levels to shipping lines and reduce waiting time for key supply chain partners such as road and rail.

“In the process of evaluating our infrastructure and assets, we identified that we required additional straddles to cope with the continuing volume growth in containers. It is the first significant investment in new equipment at the terminal for a number of years.”

The new straddles will be capable of lifting 50 tonnes, a 25% increase in the capacity of the existing machines. They will have on-board weighing systems and twin lift capability, which will also help increase productivity.

Two of the new straddles will replace older less reliable machines, increasing the overall fleet from 11 to 13. Lower maintenance on the new straddles means additional resourcing can be allocated to improve reliability of the remaining fleet.

“We are confident that our long-term approach to investing in assets and infrastructure, and our commitment to delivering fast, efficient turnaround will result in Lyttelton Port delivering on its potential, “said Mr Davie.

ENDS

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