The cranes add to six existing units, as part of its $105m expansion plans, that includs the addition of 130 metres of berth and the dredging to a depth of 15 m of all its berths. When completed mid 2017 STI will increase its yearly handling capacity to 1.6m teu .
STI, a joint venture between Seattle-based SSA Marine and Chile’s SAAM, has a 55% market share in Central Chile, followed by Valparaiso with 45%.
“For the last three years, we have reached over 1m teu every year and after 2015, it will be our fourth year in a row passing the million teu mark,” said Jose Iribarren, STI gm. For the first eight months of 2015, STI cargo volume grew by 8% to 777,389 teu, up from 719,607 teu during the same period in 2014. In March 2015, STI was the first terminal in Chile to reach 10m teu.
The ZPMC's Zhenhua 21 brought the biggest STS cranes ever received in a container terminal in Chile. The environmental-friendly STS Cranes are capable of handling New Panamax vessels with 22 container rows on deck and 9-container high over deck.
Upon commissioning, expected by November 2015, a total of two panamax and six post-panamax container cranes making STI the only terminal in Chile with 8 STS Cranes. STI is able to serve two neo-panamax vessels simultaneously.
“These new cranes represent our commitment to Chile where we will, when the above mentioned expansion project is completed, have invested close to $240m. This also shows our commitment to our customers, who are eagerly waiting for the completion of the Panama Canal expansion to deploy neo-panamax vessels in the region,” said Iribarren.
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