Opascor getting three brandnew cranes

CEBU, Philippines - The Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. will soon be able to increase the volume of cargo they handle with their brand-new cranes from China.

Opascor general manager and President Tomas Riveral said that the arrival of the new cranes means that Cebu is capable of handling the increasing volume of cargoes.

“It also shows and proves that OPASCOR is serious in its commitment to give optimum service to its clientele,” Riveral said.

Opascor board vice chairman Dennis Mendoza said that the arrival of the new equipment is part of the modernization of its cargo-handling operations.

Opascor, founded by Democrito Mendoza in 1990, is the exclusive cargo handling service provider of Cebu International Port and prides itself as the first cargo-handling company to be fully-owned and operated by its workers.

The said state-of-the-art customized cranes, one quay crane and two rubber-tired gantry cranes or RTG cranes, are now in transit to Cebu from China and are expected to arrive on Nov. 5, 2012.

The 41-ton quay crane is for loading and unloading of containerized cargoes from the ship to shore and vice-versa.

The RTG cranes are for the receiving of containerized cargoes from the yard to the trucks and vice-versa.  With the new cranes, stockpiling can be as high as six container vans unlike the existing cranes that can only pile up to four container vans.

“Which means, we can now save space at our container yard,” Riveral said, adding the cranes are self-diagnostic and can detect any defect through a computer.

Opascor has eleven RTG cranes, but these two RTG cranes from China are the first brand-new ones.

It has also four quay cranes but the latest is also the first brand-new and the most modern.

Riveral said that the cost of these three brand-new cranes, including installation and shipping insurance, is about P600 million.  It was made possible through a loan obtained from Banco de Oro.

Opascor is also engaged not just in cargo-handling but also arrastre and stevedoring, container yard operation, truck weighing, container fumigation, bulk handling, stripping and stuffing,  real estate leasing and other cargo-handling related activities.  - /BRP (FREEMAN)