FAST GROWTH CREATES DEMAND FOR MORE CONTAINER HANDLERS

Haikou Port Container Terminal Co. Ltd. is situated on the northern coast of Hainan Province in southern China, directly across from the Chinese mainland. It is the first state-owned enterprise in Hainan to run international and domestic container handling, storage, packing and unpacking, and land transportation. They also take care of specialist freight requirements such as cold storage, waterways, and bulk cargo.

Capacity challenges

The company plays a major role in helping Hainan build a pilot free trade zone, and in creating better access to shipping routes in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. This activity has seen their throughput increase to more than 6 times what it was just 10 years ago – from 300,000 TEU in 2008 to 1.847 million in 2018. At only 280,000 m2, the site area is limited, as are the number of berths. With a lot of cargo coming through a small space, operating pressure is understandably high. Traffic flow is uneven, so blockages sometimes occur, affecting the efficiency of container Handling. Haikou’s first experience with Konecranes was in 1994, when they purchased a gantry crane with a 37-meter outreach and a lifting capacity of 40 tons. Impressed with its performance, they turned to Konecranes again when they needed to develop their lift truck fleet.

New engine technology

Since they started using their first two Konecranes SMV 6/7 ECB90 empty container handlers in 2008, Haikou has been very pleased with the equipment. With a powerful 7 liter, 180 kW, 1050 Nm engine, these ECBs have greatly boosted site productivity and have proven to be highly durable. Each lift truck operates up to 20 hours per day,  which means 5000+ hours every year.

Even with this sustained heavy-duty operation, there have been no major faults, just whatever has been needed to take care of the machines on a daily basis. A lack of mechanical failure combined with low-cost maintenance showed Haikou that Konecranes lift trucks could support them in their toughest container handling tasks. As business just kept on growing, Haikou bought their third Konecranes empty container handler in 2010, and two more in 2012. With their current volume of cargo, all five ECBs run almost continuously.

Quality all the way

"Konecranes machines use original imported components and an outstanding level of manufacturing technology," says Chuanzhong Zhong, Assistant Manager, Equipment Support Department of Haikou Port Container Terminal Co. Ltd. "They are really high in quality."

Haikou is well on its way to reaching its goals - with the help of Konecranes.