The world’s first hybrid reach stacker has found another fan in the Rhenus Group, a leading global logistics service company based in Germany and operating out of 460 locations worldwide.
Rhenus’ subsidiary Contargo GmbH & Co KG recently bought a Konecranes SMV 4531 TC5 hybrid reach stacker to serve at the Duisburg Intermodal Terminal (DIT) in Germany. Here the machine will contribute to DIT’s increasing significance as a barge, rail and truck hub for both north-south and west-east connections in the Ruhr region.
Bernd Putens, Managing Director at DIT Duisburg Intermodal Terminal, says “DIT, alongside the entire Contargo group, places a high value on technologies that are eco-friendly and sustainable. In fact, Contargo won the prestigious ECO Performance Award in May of this year; a hybrid reach stacker fits perfectly into this ethos and was a logical next step for us.”
Konecranes’s new lift truck technology was unveiled in January 2013. Since then a successful year-long field test at the Port of Helsingborg, on the south-west coast of Sweden, succeeded in permanently placing the first Hybrid Lift Truck at the Port, at which is has been serving in normal container handling operations ever since.
Significant Eco-Efficiencies
Mr. Putens says, “The machine should have the same high build quality and expert after sales service we have come to expect from Konecranes, but with the added benefit of exceptional fuel and cost savings, as well as of course a bold contribution towards lowering our CO2 emissions.”
The SMV 4531 TC5 hybrid Reach Stacker reduces fuels consumption by at least 30%; emission reductions are also impressive at a 80 tons less CO2 emissions at 4,000 running hours per year, that’s 20 kg less CO2 emissions per running hour.
The machine is eco-efficient in other ways too: Konecranes engineers significantly simplified driveline and hydraulic system, fully eliminated maintenance intensive components such as transmission and variable displacement pump. In addition, controllers and inverters are placed in easily replaceable modular boxes meaning spare parts supply is made ever more efficient, thus improving uptime.
Lars Fredin, Senior Vice President and Head of Konecranes Lift Trucks, concludes, “One of our goals as a company is to innovate to the benefit of our customers and also the environment. We are exceptionally proud of having now set the bar in our industry for hybrid machines, and we plan on continuing to set that bar higher as more and more of our customers begin demanding more eco-efficient machines.”
