With the delivery of five Rubber-Tire Gantry Cranes and two Ship-to-Shore gantry cranes capable of handling Ultra-Large Containerships of up to 16,000 TEU capacity, the new 1.3 million TEU deep-water APM Terminals Izmir facility is nearing completion in anticipation of beginning commercial operations in early 2016.
One more STS crane and five additional RTGs are scheduled to arrive in December, bringing the container handling equipment complement to three ULCS-ready STS cranes and 10 technologically advanced RTGs.
The opening of the new container terminal on Turkey’s Aegean coast, which will become Turkey’s biggest container terminal in the Aegean Region serving Istanbul and southern Turkey, respectively, will contribute significantly towards accommodating Turkish export growth.
Operating under a 28-year concession agreement with Turkish petrochemical conglomerate Petkim, the APM Terminals Izmir facility will have 700 meters of quay and a 16 meter depth during its first phase of development, with the ability to expand annual throughput capacity to four million TEUs annually.
The new port, which is part of the Petkim Petrochemical Complex development geared for export production, represents an investment of USD $400 million, and will create 600 new jobs in Aliaga.
Following implementation and testing of the cranes and other container handling equipment, APM Terminals Izmir expects to receive its first vessel call in March 2016.