Visakhapatnam Port has decided to acquire two more hi-tech 100-tonne harbour mobile cranes to handle Panamax vessels in the Inner Harbour. Each crane costs around Rs 35 crore. The port is already operating two such cranes in WQ-1, 2 and 3 and three in EQ 8 and 9. Two have been installed at WQ-6.
The ultra-modern cranes are built with optimized undercarriage concept to have in-house design control system. The new cranes will be deployed in EQ 5 and WQ 7. With its ambitious plan for total mechanization of cargo handling in next two to three years, the port authorities are confident of handling 124 million tonne by 2016-17.