Tomorrow three new cranes will arrive in the port of Gioia Tauro quay among the largest in the world, being able to operate on container ships with a load capacity of 22 thousand TEU and having an extension arm that covers 24 rows of container. The lifting equipment left on August 31st from the Chinese port of Dalian on board the ship Zhi Xian Zhi Xing and they have circumnavigated Africa because, having a height of over 87 meters, are too high to cross the canal of Suez. After disembarking in the Italian port, a phase that will require about a week of work, the cranes will be subjected to a testing period that will last a few months.

The three cranes have a capacity of 65 tons in "twin lift" configuration and 75 tons in "under hook" configuration.

The Port Authority of Gioia Tauro has highlighted that The arrival of the new lifting equipment is part of the program to relaunch the Calabrian port, a port that in the period April-October of this year recorded an increase of containerized traffic by about +15.5% compared to the same period of 2018. Revitalization of the entire port infrastructure for promote which the Port Authority has launched a programme three-year period of ordinary maintenance work on the seabed with The goal of flattening the underwater dunes of the port canal created by the dynamic action of the ships' propellers during the departure maneuvers and docking at the docks. At the same time, the total renovation of the squares and the running routes that aim to ensure rapid mobility of the quay cranes and mechanical means of handling containers and to ensure full work safety.

The port authority specified that growth is was also produced by the company's decision shipowner Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which in recent years months acquired the entire ownership of MCT which it manages the container terminal of Gioia Tauro ( of the 1st April 2019), to include the Calabrian port in the calls of reference of the international routes of the 2M shipping alliance established by MSC with Maersk Line, thanks to which from April to October 65 Ultra Large Container Vessel with a capacity of more than 19 thousand TEUs made a stopover in Gioia Tauro.

"Here - commented the extraordinary commissioner of the port authority, Andrea Agostinelli - it is not a question of abstract planning, but of concrete investments and visible, which - he denounced - is unfortunately not matched by a response of the State in terms of, for example, a full functionality of the SEZ and the instruments, I am thinking of credit tax on logistics investments, related to it. We are still satisfied. The relaunch of the port of Gioia Tauro starts today and the Port Authority has included in its budget forecasting the resources to assist the effort of the private sector".