SAGT's commitment to deliver international standard port services in the Port of Colombo and meet the demands of the major Shipping Lines, was further boosted when the first ever twin-lift super post-panamax ship to shore quay gantry crane was delivered at the SAGT berth recently.

The twin lift quay crane is the first of its kind in the Port of Colombo and boast a height under the spreader of 41m and an outreach of 52m along with a lifting capacity of 50 tons under the spreader and 65 tons under the hook. With the arrival and commissioning of this crane, SAGT will now be operating a total of 10 quay gantry cranes on a berth length of 940 metres.

Dedicated Shipping Lines calling SAGT which include the two largest Shipping Lines in the world would now have access to additional resources to service their Vessels for faster turn-round, when they call at SAGT.

In line with the purchase of this state-of-the-art twin-lift quay gantry crane SAGT has also purchased three more additional rubber tyred gantry cranes to supplement the existing 27 RTG cranes in the yard operation.

These cranes would further enhance the benchmark productivity levels set up by SAGT and help in moving the Port of Colombo to the next league in efficiency and service delivery.

The three Rubber Tyred Gantry cranes are also of higher specification in comparison to the existing RTGs currently in use at SAGT.

The current RTGs are 1 over five and 6+1 stacking whereas the new RTGs are 1 over six and 6+1 stacking. The new cranes are scheduled to be in operation by the first week of January 2009. This new equipment is in addition to the 25 brand new Prime Movers which SAGT took delivery of in early December 2008.

Shipping Lines representatives were of the view that SAGT building up its equipment inventory at a time when the industry was in a down-cycle was a good move and strong indication of the commitment that the Port of Colombo has in further enhancing its position as the major hub-port in the region.
(DN-12122008)