International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said on Monday its Australian subsidiary Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) can now handle the largest box ships, thanks to the expansion of its port equipment.
“We are now ready to receive the largest vessels that will come to Australia as part of the upsizing strategy undertaken by all the major shipping lines in the world. This trend will lead to an increasing number of supersized vessels sailing into Phillips Bay and mooring at VICT—the only terminal in Melbourne capable of receiving them,” VICT CEO Bruno Porchietto said.
The largest in Australia, the two new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes have a lift height of 49 meters or 10 meters higher than the terminal’s five existing STS cranes.
The 60-meter boom outreach enables the new cranes to operate 22 containers across on a vessel.
Meanwhile, the existing cranes are capable of handling 19 containers across with their 50-meter boom outreach.
Porchietto noted that the new cranes also offer better productivity with their lashing platforms mounted 15 meters high compared to the cranes that only allow pinning to be completed at the quay level.
The new cranes are part of the AUD235-million expansion project that will increase the terminal’s capacity to 1.25 million TEUs. This also includes the acquisition of six additional automated stacking cranes, which will be finished by the end of 2023.
Last August, the company reported that its net income attributable to equity holders went up by 7 percent to $313.8 million in the first half from last year’s $294.48 million, due to the strong performance of its terminals across the globe.
In the same comparative periods, ICTSI recorded a 10-percent growth in gross revenues to $1.16 billion from $1.06 billion, owing to the 9-percent increase in consolidated volume to 6.28 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 5.75 million TEUs.
“The macroeconomic and geopolitical climate continues to be uncertain but these results give us continued confidence in our financial and operational resilience,” ICTSI Chairman and President Enrique K. Razon said.
