Konecranes launches new revolutionary container crane
Konecranes introduces its first product especially developed for the emerging markets – the BOXHUNTER container handling crane. The product is a completely new type of RTG that will give the company access to a new market segment. The launch is the first step in one of Konecranes’ main strategies – developing new mid-priced products especially for the emerging markets, the company said in its press release.
The BOXHUNTER, launched today at the TOC Container Supply Chain Asia conference in Singapore, is the outcome of an intense product development effort that reinvented the design of today’s Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes. Konecranes Group’s President and CEO Pekka Lundmark is one of the key speakers at the conference.
Drawing on Konecranes’ proven, industry-leading technology, the design of the BOXHUNTER is built around the needs of container terminal customers who want the best but do not require all the features or the peak performance of the company’s top-of-the-range RTGs.
“We did this by focusing on the operator and the user interface that we provide the operator with,” says Mika Mahlberg, Konecranes’ Vice President, Port Cranes. “The idea that we hit on was to turn things on their head, literally, and bring the operator down to the center of things in terms of stacking and moving containers: ground level.”
“Traditionally, the operator’s cab in an RTG is located at the top of the crane. This is great for visibility over the containers, but with today’s sophisticated video technology it’s no longer essential. We also decided to relocate most of the machinery used for driving the trolley and hoisting operations down to ground level as well. This simplifies the overall structure in a very important way and brings a new ease of access to this machinery as well, which is great from the service perspective.”
A simpler structure brings valuable savings in manufacturing costs. Despite a simpler structure the BOXHUNTER incorporates advanced video and laser technology that Konecranes has developed for its top-of-the-line Automated Stacking Cranes. Video cameras located at critical points around the crane and a sophisticated user interface in the cab give the operator excellent visibility everywhere he needs it.
As with all Konecranes container cranes, the BOXHUNTER can be equipped with extra operator-aiding, safety-enhancing features such as DGPS Autosteering. TRUCONNECT®, Konecranes’ remote monitoring service, is also available with BOXHUNTER.
