Subic Bay International Terminal Corp (SBITC) has procured two new empty container handlers for its latest offering—an empty container depot (ECD). Both container handlers will be fully operational by June 2019.
“Our new containers are part of this year’s port improvement plan and will be used in our empty container depot. In fact, our terminal has increased its mobile stacker fleet by 100% compared to January this year,” SBITC said in a media statement.
Another unit of equipment is arriving within the year as the company fulfills its port augmentation program this year.
“We’re looking forward to the arrival of more cranes later this year to complete our 2019 port improvement plan. We will continue to invest in improving our facilities as a world-class Freeport for the benefit of our locators and port users,” SBITC said.
The two new container handlers were purchased from Kalmar, an industry forerunner in terminal automation and energy-efficient container handling.
Empty container handlers are specialized forklifts designed to efficiently stack empty containers and handle fully loaded containers in the Freeport. Each handler has a lifting capacity of nine metric tons and can stack empty containers up to six feet high, a capacity that is essential for port operators to fully maximize space to load and unload containers.
SBITC operates New Container Terminals 1 and 2, which have a total annual capacity of 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. Last February, SBITC said cargo volumes handled have been growing continuously for 13 straight months since 2017.
