Hutchinson Port Holdings’ (HPH) subsidiary Barcelona Europe South Terminal (BEST) achieved its new container handling record on May 16 when it moved 7,760 TEU on the call of MSC Beatrice.
BEST says it deployed simultaneously a total of eight ship-to-shore gantry cranes for the operation, achieving a peak vessel operating rate (VOR) of 221.3 moves per hour.
“BEST is the only terminal in the Mediterranean capable of reaching this level of productivity thanks to its semi-automated operations, which are supported by HPH’s proprietary terminal operating system nGen and the efforts of our team. This high level of productivity plus the reliability of our operations allows shipping lines to obtain important savings by reducing their time in the port and improving the vessels’ schedule planning,” Guillermo Belcastro, General Manager of BEST stated.
“The most relevant fact is that the bigger the vessel, the better our productivity rate, which is aligned with the current industry trend of increasing vessel size, and with the needs of the shipping lines,” Belcastro added.
The terminal is the first semi-automated terminal of HPH, capable of serving multiple mega-vessels simultaneously. It currently has eleven post-Panamax quay cranes, 36 automatic stacking cranes (ASCs) and 26 shuttle carriers operating along a 1,000 metres berth with a draft of 16.5 metres.