With pride, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd receives their 4 units of state-of-the-art technology quay cranes. This is the final delivery of total 6 quay cranes that was purchased at the cost of USD 53.31 Million (RM 170 Million). The 2 of the cranes arrived at the port earlier this year and are currently used at Container Terminal 2 (CT2) while these 4 unit will be fully operational at Container Terminal 4 (CT4) by the year 2014. According to the chairman of NCB Holdings Bhd, the parent company of Northport, Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid expresses that the new quay cranes are advantageous to the port. This is because Northport is the first to own such quay cranes that are equipped with sophisticated latest technology.
Prior to the purchase, the port utilized 26 quay cranes with an outreach of 18 containers on the vessel. The container handling capacity then was 3 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) per annum. With the new quay cranes in place, Northport now have a crane fleet of 32 units for its quay-side operations. Hence, the port has boosted its ability to handle 5.6 million TEUs per annum. This is due to the cranes has an outreach of 24 container, 6 more than the earlier cranes are capable of. This will eventually increase the productivity of the wharf operations. The Northport (Malaysia) Bhd's Chief Executive Officer, Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid added that the port is expected to handle 3.4 million TEUs in the year 2014. Above all, the cranes are outfitted with environmental friendly terminal equipment known as electric rubber tired gantry (E-RTG) cranes which are fully driven by shore power. This is definitely a wise acquisition to support any green technology initiatives.
From the way the new quay cranes are described, it can be assumed that these are the largest modern container cranes classified as "Super-Post Panamax" (for vessels of about 22 or more containers wide). If it’s true, then Northport is definitely ready as a principal target to serve the progressively larger super post panamax container ships, exceeding 7,000 TEUs, that started calling at the port.
However, we are unsure of the lifting capacity and the weight of the cranes at the moment. Nevertheless, to own such quay cranes technology is not the only deciding factor to be a successful port. It is important to fully utilize the quay cranes and maximize the number of containers handled per unit time. To ensure the cranes are not under utilized, the port will have to look into quay cranes scheduling, the traffic within the port, the yard as well as the internal trucks availability. We are being optimistic to see the success of Northport for the benefit of country's economy and the logistics industry.
Thank you for your precious time.
Best regards,
Mahinder Singh Malhi
With pride, Northport (
Prior to the purchase, the port utilized 26 quay cranes with an outreach of 18 containers on the vessel. The container handling capacity then was 3 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) per annum. With the new quay cranes in place, Northport now have a crane fleet of 32 units for its quay-side operations. Hence, the port has boosted its ability to handle 5.6 million TEUs per annum. This is due to the cranes has an outreach of 24 container, 6 more than the earlier cranes are capable of. This will eventually increase the productivity of the wharf operations. The Northport (Malaysia) Bhd's Chief Executive Officer, Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid added that the port is expected to handle 3.4 million TEUs in the year 2014. Above all, the cranes are outfitted with environmental friendly terminal equipment known as electric rubber tired gantry (E-RTG) cranes which are fully driven by shore power. This is definitely a wise acquisition to support any green technology initiatives. 
From the way the new quay cranes are described, it can be assumed that these are the largest modern container cranes classified as "Super-Post Panamax" (for vessels of about 22 or more containers wide). If it’s true, then Northport is definitely ready as a principal target to serve the progressively larger super post panamax container ships, exceeding 7,000 TEUs, that started calling at the port. However, we are unsure of the lifting capacity and the weight of the cranes at the moment. Nevertheless, to own such quay cranes technology is not the only deciding factor to be a successful port. It is important to fully utilize the quay cranes and maximize the number of containers handled per unit time. To ensure the cranes are not under utilized, the port will have to look into quay cranes scheduling, the traffic within the port, the yard as well as the internal trucks availability. We are being optimistic to see the success of Northport for the benefit of country's economy and the logistics industry.
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