Turkey’s Yilport Holding will invest €100 million (US$110 million) for upgrade works of the North Container Terminal at the Port of Leixões in Portugal.
The works will cover infrastructure upgrades and replacement of equipment with the goal of expanding capacity and improving operational efficiency.
The Port of Leixões Authority (APDL) said the expansion and modernisation will add 130,000 TEUs of annual capacity and improve operating conditions at the terminal.
The equipment programme includes three new STS cranes and six RTG cranes to replace the terminal’s existing equipment. The South Terminal will receive four additional RTG cranes to help handle cargo during the North Terminal works.
The North Terminal berth is to be deepened to 12.5 metres from its current listed depth of 10 metres.
The works have been contracted with APDL and are expected to take two years. The equipment renewal programme also includes automation and electrification.
The existing North Terminal has a 360-metre berth, six hectares of yard, and a handling capacity of 170,000 TEU a year. Its listed equipment comprises two quay cranes and four yard gantry cranes.
João Pedro Neves, President of APDL, said Leixões was handling about 709,000 TEUs against its installed capacity of 800,000 TEUs. He put the operating ratio at 88 per cent, describing it as, “completely outside standard efficiency ratios”.
The investment concerns the existing terminal and is separate from APDL’s longer-term New North Container Terminal project. That development forms part of the port’s wider strategic planning and includes new quay and land infrastructure, with planned service depths of 15.5 metres.
