ABB wins port automation contract

ABB has won a $52 million contract for automation and electrical systems to serve the new Euromax container terminal in Rotterdam, Holland. The project is ABB’s largest single order to date for terminal automation equipment.

ABB will supply automation and electrical systems for 76 terminal cranes, including 16 ship-to-shore units, 58 unmanned rail-mounted gantry cranes and two intermodal gantry units. The main contractor for the cranes is Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company, (ZPMC), China.

The first phase of the Euromax project includes a new 1,500-metre-long quay and storage yard to accommodate 40,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU), each corresponding to a 20-foot-long shipping container. The new terminal is designed to handle two million TEU per year, with the potential to double this capacity. The terminal’s deep-water location at the entrance to Rotterdam port and the installation of cranes with an outreach of 64 metres will permit handling of future Suez-Max class ships with up to 12,500 TEU capacity.

ABB’s scope of supply includes full crane automation and support systems, including controllers and software, low-voltage AC motors and drives, electrical transformers and switchgear. ABB services include project management, engineering, customer training and commissioning.

The Euromax terminal will begin operation in phases during 2007 and 2008.