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Konecranes is celebrating a milestone of its cranes this year with phenomenal installations across the globe.
Konecranes’ 100th rubber tired gantry (RTG) crane has been installed at the Georgia Ports Authority at the Port of Savannah in the USA.
In South Africa, three 350kg RMG’s have been installed at Transnet in Gauteng.
“It is one of the largest scale installations of RMG cranes ever to be undertaken in Southern Africa”, said John MacDonald, Service, Sales and Marketing Director at Konecranes Southern Africa.
“Weighing over 350 tons, the cranes are each able to move a container every three minutes”.
Konecranes’ RTG crane is an integral part of the global company’s product offering –the productive and reliable RTG was developed more than 20 years ago and remains the top choice for container terminals around the globe.
Konecranes’ RTG has three main features which were part of the design from the start.
The non-hydraulic design, unique to Konecranes’ RTGs in the 1990s, has since been adopted by competitors.
Nonetheless, Konecranes was among the first to realize the immense benefits of non-hydraulic RTG cranes, which are designed to provide higher reliability, less downtime, and lower maintenance and spare part costs, particularly at ports that experience harsh coastal weather.
Two other main features that have remained part of Konecranes’ unique and market-leading RTG design are the Direct Gantry Drive design with 16-wheel mechanism that separated Konecranes’ RTG crane from its competitors’ 8-wheel RTG cranes.
And the increase in wheels from 8 to 16 meant lower wheel loads, less maintenance, and minimal wear to the wheels. The extra wheels also allowed the crane to move sideways, potentially increasing productivity.
The other unique patented feature of the Konecranes RTG is the Active Load Control (ALC) system, which is designed to prevent containers from swaying, and enable the fine positioning of the spreader.
Combined, thefeatures are intended to significantly speed up the container handling cycle, increasing the productivity of yard operation.
The benefits likewise extend past the ease of container handling. With decreased unnecessary movements due to the precision of the ALC system, productivity can remain kept at its highest level and energy-waste can be kept to a minimum.
The use of AC-motors and frequency converters, instead of direct current technology, can also lead to significantly improved eco-efficiency.
Despite the innovative features, Konecranes’ RTG was not a straightforward success story. Konecranes’ approach to the RTG crane was unfamiliar to most container terminal operators, who were hesitant to order the slightly more expensive crane in favor of the more affordable partly hydraulic-driven RTG cranes.
