Konecranes has announced it has made a breakthrough into a new area after receiving an order for container handling cranes for use in waste handling in New York.

The company has also won a repeat RTG order from transportation supplier CSX Intermodal Terminals in the US.

The order for the waste handling machines, received in September, was placed by New York Container Terminal (NYCT) and includes two RTGs and two RMG cranes. The cranes will be used for moving containers of municipal solid waste from New York City. The machines will be delivered to NYCT’s terminal on Staten Island by the end of 2014. The value of the order is not being disclosed.

The purchase of the cranes is part of New York City’s solid waste management programme. Waste from the city will be packed into specially designed containers and transported via barge over the Hudson River to NYCT’s Staten Island terminal. The new Konecranes RMGs will unload the sealed containers at the terminal, where the Konecranes RTG cranes will then load them onto trains. The containers will be transported to specific energy-from-waste facilities.

“This is a very exciting contract for us, a breakthrough in fact, and will open up a new business segment for our container handling cranes,” says Jussi Suhonen, Konecranes’ sales director, port cranes in the Americas.

The cranes, which have been specially designed for heavy-duty operation and have a lifting capacity of 50 tonnes, will include advanced features such as Konecranes Active Load Control, which enhances personnel safety and improves terminal productivity.

REPEAT ORDER FROM CSX

The repeat order that Konecranes has received from transportation supplier CSX Intermodal Terminals in the US comprises four Konecranes RTGs and an option for one more. This is Konecranes’ second RTG delivery to CSX Intermodal Terminals as the previous order for three RTGs was placed in June last year. The recently ordered cranes will be delivered to two facilities operated by CSX Intermodal Terminals: three RTGs will be installed in Valleyfield, Canada, and one RTG in Chicago. All four cranes will be delivered before October 2014. The value of the order is not disclosed.

CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc, a subsidiary of CSX Corporation in Jacksonville, Fla, US, is one of the nation’s leading intermodal terminal operators, providing rail-to-truck and truck-to-rail transloading services. It operates more than 30 terminals across the eastern US and Canada.

Konecranes’ local service is an important factor in the good relationship between the two companies. Konecranes provides local access to service technicians and spare parts, helping to ensure an interruption-free container handling process.

Konecranes’ RTGs have and will be used for stacking and moving containers from rail to truck and vice versa. The cranes are equipped with the latest DGPS-assisted technology for container yards. This includes the Autosteering feature, which keeps the crane on a pre-programmed straight driving path, thus improving safety and increasing productivity. The RTGs have a lifting capacity of 50 tonnes and are able to stack one over three containers high.

In addition to the RTGs, Konecranes will supply two reach stackers to CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc, which will be used for handling containers in first and second rails. The order for two new reach stackers came after CSX Intermodal Terminals purchased an initial unit and found it to be very reliable and more productive than other similar equipment.

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. It provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2012, group sales totalled 2.1 billion euros ($2.89 billion). The group has 11,900 employees at 626 locations in 48 countries. Konecranes is listed on the Nasdaq OMX Helsinki (symbol: KCR1V).