12 April, 2022 by Juan Carlos Díaz Lorenzo

OPCSA invests 20 million euros in two MalaccaMax cranes

The OPCSA container terminal, a subsidiary of Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), will have two MalaccaMax cranes by October 2023, which will be the largest in the market due to their size and capacity, according to the company. This Tuesday, the contract was signed between Jan Nowak and Juan Carlos Domínguez, CEO and CFO respectively of the mentioned terminal and the Chinese company Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. (ZPMC), for a value of twenty million euros. The two units are expected to arrive at the port of Las Palmas at the end of August 2023 and are anticipated to be operational between October 16 and 22 at the Cristóbal Colón dock, in the eastern area of OPCSA.

“OPCSA takes a giant step” in renewing the terminal's machinery fleet with the acquisition of these new MalaccaMax cranes, which are the largest in the market and very few terminals in Spain have them. They far exceed the Post Panamax cranes currently available at the terminal.

The MalaccaMax crane has a height of 141 m with the boom retracted, a reach of up to 73 m, a free height from the dock of 54 m (height under the spreader), and a capacity of 65 tons in Twin Lift operation (two containers at once in a single movement). It has outstanding performance, as it nearly doubles that of a conventional crane, with 40 movements per hour. It is designed to service the largest ships of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), such as the “MSC Gülsun,” which is 400 m long and 61.5 m wide, with a capacity to carry 23,700 TEUs.

The new cranes will arrive painted blue, the corporate color of OPCSA, on a special ship that will make a two-month and ten-day journey from China. OPCSA is reorganizing the cranes currently at the terminal, with the probable removal of crane number 2 from the western dock.

By 2023, there will be six cranes in the eastern part of the terminal (four Post Panamax and two MalaccaMax) and three Post Panamax in the western part. The terminal's team will continue the general process of machinery renewal, which does not rule out the removal of additional units in the eastern area.

OPCSA will monitor the construction of the new MalaccaMax cranes to ensure quality throughout the process. Once at the terminal, the new units will be connected to the OPCSA network, allowing for continuous monitoring of operations, as well as real-time monitoring of their status from the headquarters.