The Chinese transport vessel ZHEN HUA 24 arrived at the San Antonio International Terminal (STI) in Chile on Tuesday to deliver two ultra-large ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes. Built by the Chinese manufacturer ZPMC, the two cranes were shipped to Chile fully assembled on board the ship specialized in heavy cargo transportation.
In addition to the two quay cranes, STI will also receive two more RTG cranes to serve the terminal’s container yard.
On her way from Shanghai to San Antonio, the ZHEN HUA 24 made a stopover in Callao, Peru, where she dropped off an STS crane and three RTGs at APMT’s ‘Muelle Norte’ multi-purpose container dock.
At San Antonio International Terminal, the two new jumbo STSs are expected to replace two smaller units to bring the total number of cranes in the terminal to eight.
The new equipment is part of a USD 44 million investment and upgrade program to which STI committed in 2020 in exchange for a concession extension from 2025 to 2030. With its new cranes and a 930 m quay, the terminal has a design capacity of 1.60 Mteu per year.
San Antonio Terminal Internacional is a 50-50 joint venture of SSA Marine and SAAM Ports of China, owned by Carrix, which was recently acquired by Hapag-Lloyd. Along with Maersk Group and COSCO, the German airline is also one of the three main users of the terminal.
STI is one of two container terminals in San Antonio. Its main competitor is the Puerto Central Terminal (PCE). Since 2019, when the global operator DP World acquired the majority of Puertos y Logística S.A. (Pulogsa), this facility is also known as DP World San Antonio.
Both STI and PCE regularly handle vessels up to 14,000 TEU, although only STI with its 930m berth can accommodate two Neopanamax ships (approx. 366m) at the same time, while PCE with its 700m berth can normally only berth in said ship at the same time.
Source: Alphaliner
