Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) has completed a project to convert the company’s diesel-operated rubber-tyred gantry cranes to electric-powered rubber-tyred gantry cranes or E-RTGs, making a major contribution to efforts by the Port of Colombo to go Green.
Costing more than US$ 10 million, the project has resulted in CICT deploying 40 zero-emission E-RTGs at the company-managed Colombo South container terminal, achieving a 45 per cent reduction in the terminal’s overall carbon dioxide emissions to the environment and a reduction of more than 95 per cent in diesel consumption.
Commenting on the E-RTG project, CICT CEO Ray Ren said: “This initiative demonstrates CICT’s as well as our parent company CMPort’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Port of Colombo and the maritime industry as a whole. We believe in leading from the front in the sphere of caring for the environment, even at a time when some stakeholders in the global industry are still said to be driven by costs rather than green ethics. This is just one of several environment-related CICT projects in the pipeline, and we intend to continue investing on initiatives to reduce emissions.”
The electrification of CICT’s rubber-tyred gantry cranes involved modification work of fitting electricity collector trolleys in the RTG cranes and constructing a conductor bar system (Bus-Bar) in the terminal for the cranes to function with electricity. Recognised around the world as an innovative port technology, E-RTGs have been proven to deliver significant environmental, technological and financial benefits to terminals.
Their environmental benefits include reducing air and noise pollution; in economic terms they reducing operating and maintenance costs and in terms of technology represent an optimisation of productivity and performance.