April 2017 World Port Development 27

c o n t a i n e rt e r m i n a l t r a c t o r s

Driven by automation and environmentalconcerns the terminal tractor market hasmade a 360 degree turn and now looks atnew opportunities. World PortDevelopment reports…

ver the years the choice of which terminal tractor to purchase was driven by drivers’ ergonomics in

the cabin.With over 8 hours spent in a terminal tractor it was obvious that the driverwas the focal point for many manufacturersand operators alike.The terminal tractorevolved around the driver and in June 2016,Kalmar launched their new T2 terminal tractorwhich they claimed was designed by theircustomers.The company said it is safer tooperate, has an ergonomically designed cabin,easier to maintain and gives you over 100 different driveline combinations to choose from. Unfortunately, since that time no majorproduct launches have been revealed by anyterminal tractor manufacturer.Also, the focuson the driver has shifted to automation and

more environmentally friendly drive systems.“Environmental legislation is already pushingdiesel engines to the next level putting moreenvironmental solutions such as electric terminal tractors (TTs) right round the corner,”says Mikko Lehtinen, Business DevelopmentDirector,Terminal Tractors, Kalmar.“The tippingpoint will be when battery technologybecomes cheap enough which is why Kalmarhas focused its electric TT development tothe battery software.” Over the last 10 years,Netherlands-based Terberg Benschop alsowitnessed an increased interest towardsgreener solutions.“We introduced an LNGversion and a full-electric version of our yardtractors,” Frank Oerlemans, Export Managerat Terberg Benschop told WPD.“For manyyears the trend has been towards highercapacity - this goes back even further then10 years.” According to Oerlemans, the company has also see a growing interest intechnological devices to help monitor thetractor and the driver from a distance.“Thisdemand is driven by the interest of safety

first and secondly to keep the TCO of theequipment as low as possible.This drive hasmeant that we now can implement a device inour tractors to easily connect any telematicssystem to our CANbus system.This deviceprotects the info on the CANbus and allowsthe user to read out all info required whichis available on the CANbus,” Oerlemansadded.The drive for safety has also seen theintroduction of the ‘Saferoll’ system for cassette trailers. Introduced by Liftec last year,the Saferoll trailer is based on the TerbergSafeneck.The result is a safe combination tohandle heavy loads on steep ramps while havingall the advantages of the cassette system.

Although they are all competitors, one thingthat all manufacturers share is their marketoutlook.All comment on the rise of uncertainty in investments caused by globaleconomies, the decision of the UnitedKingdom to leave the European Union andconcerns on how decisions of the Trumpadministration will affect [port] investmentsin the United States. But it is not only themanufacturers that are concerned.Accordingto Lehtinen “even large terminals operatorsare rethinking their approach by putting someinvestments on hold.” This in turn createsdoubts over larger project investments.Despite all concerns, 2016 was a good yearfor many manufacturers. For Kalmar, theAmericas - their largest market for terminaltractors - stayed strong with no large fluctuations in 2016.“More like hesitation andslower movements,” comments Lehtinen.Global sales increased slightly for the company due to an increase in orders coming from Europe. In September 2016,Kalmar was awarded an order for five forklifttrucks and two T2 terminal tractors fromHeavyMovement in Barcelona, Spain.Thedelivery took place in December 2016 andwas the first T2 terminal tractor order to bedelivered to Iberia. HeavyMovement providesoutsourced operations services such aswarehouse management and handling of ironand steel products to the metal industry.Thenew equipment joined a fleet of over 30

O

Terminal tractor market in positive mood

Kalmar launched their new T2 terminal tractor in June last year

Tractor sale

WPD-Apr17-articles 4/10/05 3:47 pm Page 12

April 2017 World Port Development 29

c o n t a i n e rt e r m i n a l t r a c t o r s

Kalmar heavy duty forklift trucks, 20 terminaltractors and three reachstackers already inuse at HeavyMovement.A month later,Kalmar received a contract from GulftainerLebanon for their operations in the port ofTripoli to supply six Kalmar T2 terminal tractors and one Kalmar DCF80-45E7 emptycontainer handler.“In 2016 we had our bestyear ever for the fourth time in a row,”reports Oerlemans.“Sales were slightly better compared to 2015.The increase of the costs of the tractors due to the implementation of the Stage 4 engines causedrevenues to increase with a higher percentage.”But Oerlemans points out that “the market isnever steady. One month is always differentfrom the next. However, throughout the yearwe kept feeling that the market was in a positive mood with a slight decline at theend of the year.” Last year,Terberg also witnessed a slowdown in Asia where terminaloperators were offering shipping lines reducedrates which caused a delay in terminal investments and a slowdown in order intakefor Terberg. Despite all this the companyreceived some interesting contracts includingan order from C-Ro in Belgium for 117

RoRo tractors for their terminals in the UKand the Benelux - the biggest ever singleorder of this type of equipment for the company. It also received an order from MSCValencia for a total of 20 yard tractors.Trieste Marine Terminal ordered an additional5 units, STAM Tunisia ordered 14 units oftheir TT223 tractors and APM Terminalsordered tractors for their new terminals inCosta Rica and Valencia.

This year,Terberg has already witnessed theircustomers showing an increase in trusttowards the economy and therefore aremore willing to invest.“We do notice a shiftto more orders coming from Europe and lessfrom outside Europe,” said Oerlemans.“Thishowever can change any day by one or a fewlarger orders from outside Europe.” AskingOerlemans about his market outlook for thecoming year, he believes that 2017 will showa slightly slower market but he confirms thathe has been saying this for the last 4 yearsand every year they experienced a growth inthe end. So to avoid this he says:“We will seewhat 2017 will bring us.” For 2017, Lehtinen

also adopts a positive market outlook. Perhapsthis might come after the company’s recentannual Americas dealer network event, whichwas held at the beginning of February inBonita Springs, Florida, signalling a strong market with orders that broke all previous records. During the event a total of 708 terminal tractor orders were received.Theterminal tractors will be delivered to dealerships across USA, Canada and Mexicoduring 2017.The total value of the orders isapproximately EUR 70 million.“This year’sDealer Meeting was a great success.Wemade a record in orders received and surpassed our previous record of 512 unitsfrom 2015.We launched our Kalmar OttawaT2 terminal tractor three years ago and sincethen we have been consistently gaining market share especially in the Americas,” saidDan Pettersson, Senior Vice President, MobileEquipment, Kalmar.“Today, our terminal tractor offering comprises a superior product,service, spare parts and rental agreementssupported by a dedicated team who has been contributing to this successful businesssince the beginning.This impressive resultcoupled with the feedback received from theattendees builds up our confidence in theNorth American market and its economicoutlook for 2017.”

Perhaps an obvious question to manufacturerswill be how terminal tractors will evolvewithin a terminal over the next ten years.“In the next decade a lot will happen,” saidOerlemands.“Lots of new technologies arebeing developed around us. Some of thesetechnologies for sure will find their way alsoto our tractors. Digitalisation and the IOT isonly two of them.” Lehtinen already touchedon the two major developments - the rise ofautomation and more environmental drivesystems.“The other development will be true automation where the TT units operateunder a single system as part of full containerhandling process,” he explains.“Not just tractor running autonomously on a pre-defined track, but a full system of freeranging tractors driving under a single operating system in concert with whateverexisting structure the customer has.” Thisyear, Kalmar will focus on customer experience instead of new product releases.“We have new developments in the pipeline,but that will be next year,” said Lehtinen.“This year we’ll work on quality and servicewhich are the two largest elements translatingto value for the customer.”

Terberg received an order from C-Roin Belgium for 117 RoRo tractors

Positive outlook

Future of the TT

WPD-Apr17-articles 4/10/05 3:48 pm Page 14