Hyster, a leading provider of materials-handling equipment, is to provide Malta Freeport Terminals with a battery electric empty container handler powered entirely by 650-volt lithium-ion batteries.
The equipment, utilising lithium-ion battery power for single empty container handling, has a capability of stacking eight-high and will significantly reduce greenhouse emissions at Malta Freeport Terminals
The battery electric container handler pilot will contribute to CMA CGM’s objectives to accelerate its energy transition and achieve net-zero carbon by 2050. To help achieve this decarbonisation objective across its shipping, inland, and logistics operations, the company has created ‘PULSE, CMA CGM Energy Fund’, to accelerate the decarbonization of all of the CMA CGM Group’s activities and its value chain. PULSE will fund the two-year pilot agreement for the Hyster® battery electric empty container handler, helping the CMA CGM Group and its subsidiary Terminal Link make reductions to its greenhouse gas emissions specifically at Malta Freeport in Birżebbuġa, Malta.
Alex Montebello, CEO at Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd, said: “The introduction of the Hyster battery electric empty container handler at Malta Freeport is an important step in reducing emissions in our Terminal operations as part of our commitment to eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. This collaboration will help us to leverage cutting-edge, sustainable technology to meet our decarbonisation goals while maintaining the efficiency and reliability that our operations demand.”
Niek Willems, Leader of Business Development, Global Ports and Terminals for Hyster, said: “We have a long-standing connection with CMA CGM, which has been a global Hyster customer for more than a decade and has used Hyster empty container handlers in its Malta Freeport Terminals since 2016. We also recently collaborated with them on the iTerminals 4.0 project, piloting programmes that harness digitalisation to explore smart maintenance for port equipment. Working together to pioneer the use of a lithium-ion battery-powered empty container handler is the next exciting development in this relationship.”
The design of the battery electric empty container handler for Malta Freeport Terminals, based on the equivalent diesel model to provide a familiar user experience for operators, is the result of years of Hyster research and development around port equipment electrification. It follows projects such as the pilot of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered top-pick container handler at the Port of Los Angeles, and a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Reach Stacker to the Port of Valencia. All these innovative developments aim to transform operations which have previously depended on trucks with internal combustion engines and provide real-world solutions that enable businesses to meet their sustainability goals.
