Breakbulk Americas, which takes place in Texas, provides visitors with a networking platform to grow connections, generate new business and strengthen key existing relationships.

Breakbulk Americas is an event for those involved in the project cargo and breakbulk industry that is focused on companies and projects from Canada down to Argentina and the Caribbean.
It takes place in September in Houston, US, and features more than 200 exhibitors, a two-day conference programme and networking activities.

Swedish firm Elme Spreader will be among those companies exhibiting. This year it has launched the model 818 Innovation WTP, a New Generation telescopic top lift spreader for handling of laden ISO, WTP (wide twistlock position) and US-domestic containers weighing up to 45t.

The spreader is designed for use under a gantry at the front of a lift truck.

The product features two parallel telescopic beams, assuring maximum overlap, the company says. The beam sections are dimensioned to absorb not only the vertical, but also considerable horizontal forces, while the Innovation range’s latest design offers increased structural strength and reduced weight, and is estimated to have an increased life expectancy of 30% related to fatigue resistance and standard load case conditions. The reduced spreader weight enables improvements on the lift truck design.

The previous generation’s twistlock system, manufactured in a rugged design, carries its benefits into the New Generation of spreaders, of which the 818 Innovation WTP is one. It also has hardened ISO quick exchange pendular twistlocks that are hydraulically activated with mechanical interlocking against faulty locking and unlocking.

Four telescopic hangers connect the spreader to the gantry. Elme says gravity assures the level position of the spreader. The hangers will allow the spreader to automatically adapt to containers on trailers or on uneven ground. Telescoping is powered by one hydraulic cylinder for each end beam and sideshift is executed by one hydraulic cylinder. The slew and reach motions are possible thanks to two hydraulic cylinders that connect the spreader to the gantry. By powering either one or both cylinders, the slew and reach functions are activated.

The WTP option built into the spreader endbeams allows the operator to hydraulically change the twistlock positions to handle ISO and US-domestic containers as well as WTP containers.

Meanwhile, also launched this year, the model 857 Innovation is the New Generation intermodal top lift spreader for the handling of laden ISO containers and trailers weighing up to 45t. It is designed for use with reachstackers.

Like the 818 it also features two parallel telescopic beams and offers the same highlights listed above too.

The leg arrangement is a load clamping system that involves all four foldable piggyback legs in an automatic sequence. Thanks to this feature the spreader can be lowered between containers that are block stacked front to front and side to side. Sensors integrated in the feet detect when the trailer is clamped. To avoid unintentional unclamping, a signal is also sent as soon as the container/trailer is lifted off the ground.

In other news, Elme Spreader has revealed it has been awarded the Diamond Diploma for Highest Creditworthiness. The company is one of the 258 businesses, of Sweden’s total of 651,798 limited companies, that has received this recognition. A company with a diamond diploma has retained highest creditworthiness for at least 20 years.

AUTOMATED STACKING CRANES

Finland’s Konecranes will also be exhibiting in Houston having has secured an order in the spring worth more than €130m to supply 36 automated stacking cranes (ASCs) to the Port of Virginia on the US East Coast.

The ASCs are earmarked for the port’s Norfolk International Terminals North Terminal project and will be delivered in two batches of 18 units. The first batch is slated to arrive by mid-2025 and the second by mid-2027.

Norfolk International Terminals is the Virginia Port Authority’s largest terminal, occupying some 567 acres of terrain.

The port ordered its first batch of 30 ASCs from Konecranes in 2007, followed by a further 86 units in 2016.

“By placing this latest order, the Virginia Port Authority – owner and operator of the Port of Virginia’s five general cargo terminals – is once again showing its unwavering trust in the capabilities of Konecranes to deliver dependable and effective terminal solutions,” Konecranes said in a statement.

According to the company, the order highlights its commitment to its Ecolifting and Path to Port Automation initiatives, which aim to reduce clients’ carbon footprints by offering innovative and eco-friendly solutions while concurrently aligning port equipment with their visions for yard automation.

WHO ELSE IS THERE?

OTH Pioneer Rigging will be attending the event and showcasing its range of remotecontrolled hooks.

Available in two models, a LudwigHook has a working load limit of 4,400lbs, while the XL is rated for 11,600lbs. Each hook weighs 6lbs and built to withstand harsh outdoor environments. The company says the hooks can be used in a choker configuration with wire ropes or nylon slings, any kind of basket hitch, and with spreader bars or lifting frames. When using a basket configuration, the lifting capacity of the system doubles.

World Cargo News reported in June that Breakbulk Americas exhibitor Sany is to deliver six rubber-tyred gantry cranes(RTG) to the TraPac terminal at the Port of Oakland. According to the report, the RTGs have been very tightly specified by a USbased crane consultant, with components including ABB drives and controls and coatings and paint from Hempel. It is understood the cranes are to have no Chinese-made software or IoT technology.

Breakbulk Americas, which takes place in Texas