La Spezia Container Terminal, controlled by Contship, has signed contracts for the supply of four ship-to-shore cranes and eighteen yard cranes, including RTG and RMG units, for a total investment of €90 million. The contract has been awarded to a leading Chinese manufacturer, which the company has not named, following a selection process that assessed technological and quality requirements. Delivery of the equipment is expected within 24 to 28 months, and the order comes ahead of the start of construction work on the new Ravano container terminal at the Ligurian port. The investment is part of a €350 million modernisation programme covering equipment upgrades, infrastructure development and the expansion of the terminal’s operational capacity.
Contship says the four new ship-to-shore cranes will enable the terminal to handle latest-generation container ships, including vessels of up to 24,000 TEU. The planned configuration will allow three ultra-large vessels to be handled simultaneously, expanding service capacity on the main international routes. The cranes will be able to integrate technological systems including automatic container recognition via OCR, digital tracking of vehicle positions during loading and unloading operations, and vessel profile scanning.
The new yard cranes, without cabins and designed for remote control, will be powered by electricity. These will include the terminal’s first electric RTGs, in line with the decarbonisation and gradual electrification of operational activities launched by the Contship group, which involves adopting lower-energy solutions and switching to renewable sources. The rail yard included in the Ravano project will host double-girder RMG cranes, with the aim of strengthening integration between terminal activities and Contship’s intermodal operations through a facility with five track bundles. With this configuration, LSCT expects to increase its share of intermodal traffic from the current average of 33% to 50%.
