On 1 September 2006, YICT organised a commemorative ceremony to mark the launch of two new berths from its Expansion Project, which officially came on-stream with the arrival of Evergreen's "Hatsu Ethic/038E".
At 668.8 metres in length and a water depth alongside of 16 metres, these new berths are capable of accommodating the world's largest container vessels.
YICT has deployed the latest dual-hoist tandem-lift quay cranes to the Expansion Project, to affect the efficient handling of mega-vessels. These cranes have an outreach of 65 metres, to straddle 23 rows of containers, which enables them to perform on average operational rates that are 20-30 per cent greater than other traditional forms of quay cranes.
The new berths are supported by 12.5 hectares of container yard that has been equipped with "one-over-six" rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGC's). With a height of 29 metres, three metres higher than all existing cranes at YICT, these RTGC's will help substantially increase the stacking capacity of the Expansion Project's new container yard.
Furthermore, YICT has upgraded its Next Generation Terminal Management System (nGen) to seamlessly integrate new and existing terminal equipment, to respond to the operational demands realised by the additional handling capacity.
These efforts ensure YICT's ability to meet the changing needs of its customers and the growing deployment of mega-vessels.
Background Information
These are the first berths from YICT's Expansion Project to have come on-stream, following the announcement made on 8 November 2005, by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) and Shenzhen Yantian Port Group (YPG) to form a joint-venture with a total investment amount of over RMB10 billion to develop the Yantian Port Expansion Project.