INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said it received four brand-new rubber-tired gantries (RTGs) for its flagship Manila International Container Terminal, the country’s largest container port.

ICTSI said in a statement it spent P144.3 million for the new equipment to increase capacity and productivity of MICT, the country’s leading trading gateway that handles about 60 percent of containers passing through Port of Manila.

“These new orders again demonstrate our commitment to continuously invest in our operated terminals. This policy of continued investments in terminal capacity and enhancements in Manila and around the world helps us maintain our market leading position while providing superior services to our clients. Furthermore, it shows we are confident of the global economic outlook,” Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI vice president and MICT general manager, said in the statement.

ICTSI said its new equipment would be in service before end of September after the final commissioning process is complete.

Each equipment has a stacking capacity of “one over five high,” and can work six containers-wide, plus a truck lane, making the gantries the first of their type in the Philippines, Gonzalez said.

ICTSI has already contracted Singapore-based equipment engineering firm Portek to increase the heights of MICT’s other rubber-tired gantries to expand the terminal’s yard capacity. 

Manufactured by Noell Crane Systems China Ltd., each of the so-called RTG is equipped with automatic steering using global positioning and automatic container positioning systems, ICTSI said.

“The telescopic spreader is capable of lifting 41 metric tons.  A special fuel-saving device will be installed on each RTG after they have entered service,” said ICTSI, whose shares are traded in the Philippine stock market.

MICT now has 32 RTGs, the largest fleet in the country.

The roll out is the latest move of the Razon-controlled firm to expand its flagship port after cargo volume started to reach full capacity.

Earlier, ICTSI said it would expand MICT capacity to handle more than 2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) by 2009 from its current capacity of 1.6 million TEUs.

ICTSI said that MICT’s volume reached 1.37 million TEUs, or about 63 percent of the total international container traffic at the Port of Manila.

MICT first hit 1-million TEU mark in 2002, but growth was sluggish during the last two to three years.

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