Electric straddle carriers to help London Gateway advance sustainability agenda

Kalmarhas secured a significant order from long-term customer DP World for eight fully electric Kalmar straddle carriers with high-energy batteries at its London Gateway logistics hub. The order was booked in Cargotec’s Q2 2023 order intake, with delivery of the machines scheduled for Q2 2024.

London Gateway is a state-of-the-art deep-sea port, rail terminal and logistics park situated on the River Thames. Owner DP World is committed to minimising the terminal’s environmental impact through its sustainability programme and Planet Mark certification, and fully electric equipment is seen as a key part of the drive to improve eco-efficiency by reducing emissions and noise. DP World is committed to becoming a carbon-neutral enterprise by 2040 and a net-zero carbon enterprise by 2050. The company intends to invest up to USD 500 million to cut CO2 emissions from its operations by nearly 700,000 tonnes over the next five years.

Kalmar equipment and automation solutions are at the core of DP World London operations at London Gateway, with the terminal operating 60 Kalmar automatic stacking cranes (ASCs) and 40 Kalmar straddle carriers.

The electric straddle carriers with high-energy batteries will be capable of operating for up to four hours. Furthermore, no major changes are required to the yard infrastructure as the charging stations will be located in parking areas outside operational hotspots. The straddle carriers will also be fitted with a standard CCS2 charging interface that is compatible with any commercial charging station. DP World will also install two Kalmar FastCharge charging stations in the yard area that can be used to top up the machines’ batteries during shifts.

Kalmar Straddle Carrier Charge Family was introduced to the market at TOC Europe in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Mikko Mononen, vice president of sales management at Horizontal Transportation, Kalmar said, “Our new high-energy battery technology has been developed in response to customer demand for a battery-based solution that is more closely aligned with their operating patterns. We have been working with DP World London Gateway for many years on solutions to help them improve efficiency and reduce the impact of their operations on the environment. The terminal has been piloting a fully electric straddle carrier since 2018, and this project has served to demonstrate that fully electric machines are the optimal next step on the terminal’s decarbonisation journey.”