Cargotec's Kalmar business area has been awarded a contract to provide a fleet of shuttle carriers to TTI Algeciras S.A. in Spain. These 20 Kalmar SHC240H shuttle carriers have a single-lifting capacity of 40 tons and can stack containers 2-high. The equipment will be delivered by January 2010.

The shuttle carrier fleet serves the needs of the new Algeciras terminal by providing fast and flexible transportation between the ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and automatic stacking cranes (ASC). The key productivity benefit of the shuttle carrier is its ability to leave and pick up containers from the ground eliminating waiting times. Ship-to-shore cranes place containers from the vessel on the ground, under the crane's back reach, from where the containers are then collected by the shuttle carriers and transported to the automatic stacking crane buffer area. This combination of equipment working together achieves high productivity with lowest number of horizontal transportation vehicles.

The TTI Algeciras terminal, with more than 1,200 metres of quayside, will be able to serve vessels carrying up to 10,000 TEU. The terminal is expected to handle more than 1.5 million TEU annually once it is opened for operation in 2010. The new terminal serves as a hub for transshipment between Africa, Northern Europe, the US east coast and South America. TTI Algeciras is owned by Hanjin Shipping.

TTI Algeciras will be the second mega terminal operated with Kalmar shuttle carriers. The first mega terminal, APM Terminals in Virginia in the USA, started operation with its Kalmar shuttle carrier horizontal transportation system in September 2007.

As part of its efforts on increasing terminals' productivity, last year Kalmar launched its Kalmar AutoShuttle®, an automatic self-loading shuttle carrier able to pick, place and transport containers between STS and yard stacking cranes. Today, all Kalmar straddle and shuttle carriers are prepared for automation and they can be automated later as a part of a refurbishment project.