DP World has further expanded capacity at its flagship Jebel Ali terminal with the arrival of new giant tandem lift gantry cranes and rail mounted gantry (RMG) cranes for phase two of Container Terminal 2.

The cranes are the biggest of its kind in the world.

Eight new tandem lift cranes and 20 RMGs have been delivered to the new terminal, doubling the number of tandem lift cranes and taking the number of RMGs at the terminal to 38.

Six of the tandem lifts and 18 of the RMGs have been commissioned and are now operational, with the balance coming on line in the next seven to ten days. Further new equipment will be added to the terminal in coming months.

When fully operational, which is expected to be in the first quarter of 2009, the second phase of Container Terminal 2 will deploy 29 tandem lift cranes and 60 RMGs.  The tandem lift cranes are capable of lifting four 20-foot containers or two 40-foot containers simultaneously - a total capacity of 80 tonnes, which is twice that of traditional cranes.

Commenting on the occasion, Mohammed Al Muallem, senior vice president and managing director of DP World - UAE Region, said: 'We have constantly invested in capacity at Jebel Ali to meet the rapidly expanding needs of our customers. This new equipment will contribute to alleviating the congestion that is impacting all ports in the regions as volumes have continued to grow.

'We remain committed to providing our customers quality services and have long-term development plans for Jebel Ali Port. This includes building further state of the art container terminals in line with market demand.'
 The first phase of Container Terminal 2 was launched in August 2007, which increased the capacity of Jebel Ali Port by 2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent container units).

Once the second phase is launched in the first quarter of 2009, the total capacity of Container Terminal 2 will exceed 5 million TEUs, raising the overall capacity of Jebel Ali Port to 14-15 million TEUs.

This will further strengthen the DP World Jebel Ali's position on the regional as well as global trade map as one of the most advanced centres for maritime freight and logistics  services. - Reuters