Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT), a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) has acquired two new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes in a bid to handle large vessels.
“We are now ready to receive the largest vessels that will come to Australia as part of the upsizing strategy undertaken by the all the major shipping lines in the world,” Bruno Porchietto, VICT chief executive said.
“This trend will lead to an increasing number of supersized vessels sailing into Phillips Bay and mooring at VICT – the only terminal in Melbourne capable of receiving them,”
VICT’s new automated cranes are the largest in Australia, with a lift height of 49 meters or 10 meters higher than the terminal’s five existing STS cranes. The 60-meter boom outreach enables the new cranes to operate 22 containers across on a vessel.
The existing cranes, on the other hand, are capable of handling 19 containers across with their 50-meter boom outreach. The new cranes also offer better productivity with their lashing platforms mounted 15 meters high compared to the cranes that only allow pinning to be completed at the quay level.
VICT’s acquisition of the new cranes form part of the AUD235 million expansion project that will increase the terminal’s capacity to 1.25 million TEUs. The terminal has also acquired six additional automated stacking cranes as part of the expansion, which will be completed by the end of the year.
ICTSI earlier obtained a $750 million loan from Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), to further expand its port operations worldwide.
This year, ICTSI earmarked $400 million as capital expenditures to be used to improve productivity and effectivity of its various terminals.
In 2019, ICTSI Global Finance B.V., a subsidiary of ICTSI, also secured a seven-year loan amounting to $300 million from Metrobank to fund its capital expenditures and to refinance its then existing obligations.
