Posted on January 19, 2022
Following its successful deployment of four Konecranes rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG), the Port of Virginia has now ordered three more for its Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) facility.
This follows on the successful deployment of four Konecranes RMGs of a similar design at VIG.
The port is a longstanding Konecranes customer, with a fleet of 116 Konecranes Automated RMG (ARMG) cranes working at its NIT and VIG container terminals. The new cranes will work in a very similar way to the current Konecranes RMGs, loading and unloading trains and terminal trucks to serve the port’s customers in the Midwest and Ohio Valley.
The new Konecranes RMGs will be remotely operated from a control center, so they will not have cabins. They will lift containers 1-over-2 high, handling double-stacked trains, with a lifting height of 12.2 meters (40 feet), a span of 23.5 meters (77 feet), and an outreach of 13 meters (42 feet, 8 inches).
GROWTH AT PORT OF VIRGINIA
“The Port of Virginia has grown and flourished with Konecranes’ container handling technology,” said Rich Ceci, senior vice president technology and projects at the VIG. “We are always finding new ways to improve our container handling operations, using everything at our disposal including the possibilities that Konecranes technology gives us.”
In January 2018, construction began on a $452 million terminal optimization project at Norfolk International Terminals that increased the terminal’s capacity by 46 percent within the same footprint. NIT has direct, on-dock rail access to Norfolk Southern’s Heartland Corridor, allowing second-day double-stack service to inland markets. NIT also gives access to CSX Intermodal. Expanded rail services are critical to the port’s customers in the Midwest and Ohio Valley.
This latest order of equipment from Konecranes continues the port’s investment in its terminals. The RMGs are part of an $80 million expansion of the Central Rail Yard at NIT, which when complete will be able to handle more than 600,000 lifts annually.
