Cargotec’s Kalmar business area has been awarded a contract to provide eight lifting and handling machines for Vestas Towers A/S’ new production facility in Pueblo, Colorado, USA. The equipment will be delivered during April 2009.

The order includes Kalmar reachstackers and Kalmar heavy forklift trucks. Several of the machines will be customized with special attachments designed to lift Vestas’ wind turbine tower sections. Two machines, placed at each end of the tower section, will be needed to lift each section, which can weigh up to 70 tons and be up to 30 meters long and 4.5 meters in diameter.

Thomas Sørensen, responsible for ordering equipment for Vestas’ new Pueblo plant, said: “Kalmar is able to offer us the most extensive service network, complete with spare parts, support and servicing. They are customer focused – for instance, Kalmar has developed an operator manual specifically for our application, ensuring that we’ll be able to safely operate these machines from Day One in June 2009.”

Kalmar is known across the world for its quality, robust and efficient container handling equipment, which is in use at ports and container terminals around the globe. Kalmar is also known for its ability to customize its equipment to provide specialist lifting solutions for applications beyond its traditional marketplace.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, with headquarters in Denmark and production facilities in more than 12 countries, is the leading supplier of wind power solutions, having installed over 38,000 wind turbines in more than 60 countries worldwide. Vestas Towers A/S’ new plant in Pueblo will be completed in the autumn of 2009, when it will employ several hundred employees.