Konecranes to deliver hybrid and electric cranes to ports in Spain and Belgium

Finnish crane manufacturer Konecranes has bagged an order for four hybrid rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes equipped with ‘smart’ features and four all-electric mobile harbor cranes fitted with remote condition monitoring and predictive services.

As disclosed, Spain’s logistics service provider and port operator Boluda Maritime Terminals Tenerife, a subsidiary of shipping company Boluda Corporación Marítima, is behind the hybrid RTG crane quartet order. Belgian logistics player Katoen Natie has booked the Gottwald mobile harbor cranes for its operations at the Port of Antwerp.

Boluda’s four cranes are set to join two more Konecranes RTG cranes that the Canary Islands-headquartered company ordered all the way back in 2007. The companies have not disclosed the handover date yet.

The cranes will reportedly come with an array of smart features, such as auto-steering, auto-TOS positioning and auto-positioning—retrofits that “progressively” prepare the crane for full automation—as well as stack collision prevention and truck lift prevention.

“We look forward to supporting Boluda’s journey to zero tailpipe emission operations. This investment Is further evidence of growing demand for hybrid solutions in container handling and underscores Konecranes’ strength in this domain,” Darryn Scheepers, EMEA Sales Director, Konecranes, Port Solutions, commented.

As informed, the Antwerp-based Katoen Natie has commissioned Konecranes for two EPS.9 Gottwald mobile harbor cranes with a maximum lifting capacity of 200 tonnes each and two with EPS.8 cranes with a 150-tonne lifting capacity. The first two will be outfitted with a tandem-lift assistant, a technology that will enable the cranes to lift 400 tonnes, Konecranes explained.

The delivery date for these solutions has been slated for the first quarter of 2026. The order comes with a 10-year service level agreement with predictive servicing based on TRUCONNECT, a condition-based monitoring system offered by the Konecranes Service Frontline in Belgium.

As Konecranes has noted, each of the cranes features an all-electric drive system that comes with an external power supply with rechargeable batteries, which is believed to ‘optimize’ energy efficiency while leading to zero local tailpipe emissions.

“This was a long-term project where we worked closely with Katoen Natie to share our experience from a decade of field operations with all-electric drives. Through detailed technical discussions, we demonstrated the combination of performance, reliability and sustainability provided by this Konecranes technology,” Alexandros Stogianidis, Regional Sales Manager at Konecranes, highlighted.

Both the contract with Boluda Maritime Terminals and Katoen Native is part of Konecranes’ Ecolifting, a vision to “increase its handprint” i.e. “leave a beneficial environmental impact with its product portfolio while reducing customers’ carbon footprint”.

Accordingly, Konecranes has endeavored to align all of its operations with worldwide sustainability-oriented guidelines and stipulations. In early November 2024, the company revealed its new net-zero group emission reduction targets in line with the Sciende Based Tartgets Initiative (SBTi).

This was described as a ‘natural extension’ of its existing near-term ambition of slashing its operational and value chain emissions by 50% by 2030.