WACT acquires 15 new RTG cranes to enhance service delivery in Onne Port

The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), Onne has acquired 15 new Kone Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTGS) to enhance service delivery at its terminal in Onne Port, Rivers State.

Noah Sheriff, commercial manager of WACT, who confirmed this in a statement issued by the company on Monday, said the concessionaire had commenced the training of operators of the highly technical cranes, which are the first in Nigeria’s eastern ports.

“The first batch of six RTGS has arrived at WACT, Onne and we expect to deploy them into operations in May 2021. Awareness campaign with the trucking community is also on-going,” he said.

The deployment of the six new cranes would be the start of WACT’S transformation from the use of Reach Stackers to RTGS in the terminal, which will immediately increase the terminal’s current import yard capacity.

“We are expecting a total of 15 RTGS and the remaining nine will be delivered later this year. WACT also took delivery of eight new specialised terminal trucks last week to support the high incoming volumes,” he said.

Sheriff said the acquisition of the new cranes and terminal trucks is part of the on-going $100 million investment, aimed at significantly increasing the terminal capacity for the benefit of the landside customers in the Eastern part of the country.

“We envisage significant volume growth; hence we embarked on an ambitious terminal upgrade, which includes both yard expansion and equipment upgrade. We have successfully transformed our quayside model of operation by moving from ships gear operations to full Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) operations. Our terminal currently has four functional Mobile Harbour Cranes,” he explained.