Pioneering work in the field of electric empty container handler

Electric instead of diesel, battery instead of fuel tank: HCS Hamburg Container Service has been using Kalmar’s first electric empty container handler (ECG) for over a year. The ECG 90-110 model, with a lifting capacity of 9 to 11 tonnes (a 10-tonne unit is in use on site), is being tested in a two-shift operation. Aspects evaluated include handling, load handling and performance.

“No shipping, no shopping” – that’s how Dr Roland Karnbach sums up why his line of work is so important. HCS Hamburg Container Service “moves” between import and export – in the very literal sense too. At the container depot in the Port of Hamburg, between 300 and 500 empty containers arrive every day; they are inspected, cleaned, repaired, stored and collected again. “Over the course of a year, 100,000 containers ‘pass through’ our depot,” says Dr Karnbach, who has been managing HCS for more than 30 years. His son Finn Karnbach adds: “Across our 125,000 square metre storage area, we handle around 3,000 ‘moves’ a day.” Finn and his brother Justin have also been managing directors since last year and are now running the container depot – founded by their grandfather in 1978 – as the third generation of the family. 

HCS’s customers include not only major shipping lines such as COSCO, Grimaldi Lines, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, ONE and OOCL, but also traders and leasing companies who have their empty containers refurbished here before they are reused for cargo handling. The HCS depot has a storage capacity of around 14,500 TEU and employs 75 staff, 35 of whom are empty container handler operators. It is their responsibility to sort the empty containers by customer and quality and, when called upon, to transport them to the waiting lorries at the gate. To this end, they have a fleet of eleven empty container handlers at their disposal – eight of which are from Kalmar. 

In December 2024, an ‘electric empty container handler’ joined the diesel-powered machines. The model is almost identical in construction to the combustion-engine machines. The requirement at the start of the trial phase was that the electric model must demonstrate that it is just as capable as its diesel empty container handlers. 

In terms of performance, diesel and electric empty container handlers are on a par

On Kalmar’s side, HCS is supported by Sales Manager Bernd Pagel and Jens Sczepan, Service Manager for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. They had provided the Hamburg-based company with Kalmar’s first-ever electric model – the ECG 90-110 – on a 12-month trial basis, which is now being extended.

Finn Karnbach emphasises that it was important to them that the drivers didn’t notice any difference when operating the machines: “They should be able to switch between the two empty container handlers without giving it a second thought.” And indeed, they have found that daily performance depends on the driver and the type of container they are handling – not on the machine itself. “No matter where we use the electric empty container handler, it performs well everywhere. It isn’t faster or more efficient, but neither is it any slower or less efficient,” says Dr Karnbach with typical Hamburg understatement. When asked whether the electric empty container handler can keep up with the diesel empty container handler in terms of performance, the managing director replies: “Yes, definitely!”

Similar handling, significantly quieter

Just as with electric cars, the large electric empty container handlers also brake very gently and glide off quietly. “When there’s no rumbling and the empty container handler driver is less consciously aware of the ‘power of the machine’, it feels unfamiliar at first,” reports Bernd Pagel. What was actually unfamiliar to the drivers was that the electric empty container handler has no creep speed. “When you release the brake on an electric empty container handler, it doesn’t start moving straight away, as is the case with a diesel model. However, following consultation with Kalmar, this was changed so that the operation and handling are now the same,” explains Dr Karnbach.

According to Markus Schlüter, there was no need for a lengthy settling-in period. The 38-year-old has been working as an empty container handler driver at the HCS depot for ten years and got to grips with the machine straight away. He particularly likes the fact that the new electric empty container handler is fitted with pneumatic tyres rather than solid rubber tyres. 

“They make for a much more comfortable ride for us drivers because they absorb the shock better when you drive over a kerb or a pothole,” says Schlüter. Otherwise, he says, the difference compared to the diesel empty container handlers isn’t all that great – apart, of course, from the absence of background noise – “that’s a difference like night and day,” says Schlüter.

Dr Karnbach also sees this as a key advantage of the electric empty container handler: “That’s partly because the pumps and other components are quiet too. Kalmar has done a good job here. I’ve come across electric models before that used to emit annoying, high-pitched noises.” His interim conclusion following the test phase: “As far as responsiveness, handling and power delivery are concerned, we’ve received positive feedback from the drivers. Everything works smoothly, and that’s the big plus for us. And that’s why we said: ‘Yes, we’ll keep using this machine!’”

Long-term test: The electric forklift is set to score highly in terms of cost-effectiveness

Following the one-year trial period, Kalmar and HCS have agreed that the electric empty container handler will remain in service for a further 48 months. “By then, our machine will have completed a long-term test spanning 60 months, and we will be able to calculate the life-cycle costs,” says Bernd Pagel. His colleague Jens Sczepan adds: “This will be the first of our machines on the market for which we can calculate this in concrete terms and determine just how competitive it is. We’ll see how reliably the components perform and can, for example, also assess wear and tear in comparison to a diesel empty container handler.” The service manager expects the electric model to prove more cost-effective and require significantly less maintenance. 

Bernd Pagel elaborates: “We know that at HCS, a diesel forklift is usually replaced after around 15,000 operating hours.” The electric empty container handler is likely to reach this figure in its fourth year of operation, as the Karnbachs estimate around 3,500 operating hours per year. Both companies share the same objective: for the electric empty container handler to clock up at least the same number of operating hours. In order to ultimately incur lower costs over its entire life cycle than a diesel model, the electric empty container handler – which is still noticeably more expensive to purchase – needs to achieve a significantly longer service life.

The first milestones have been reached: the electric empty container handler is proving its worth and the charging is working. Markus Schlüter also confirms that charging the electric empty container handler has now become routine. The empty container handler is charged overnight and during the lunch break. “I plug it in, hold the chip up to it, wait until the empty container handler connects, then it goes ‘wrrrrrp’ and the charging point turns blue, indicating that it’s charging,” says Schlüter, vividly describing the process. Bernd Pagel adds: “The new model consumes around 35 kW/h and then has an operating time of between eight and nine hours.” In the long term, a single charging point won’t be enough. The Karnbachs are therefore already thinking ahead to the next ‘challenge’: increasing the number of charging points and, in doing so, establishing a smart charging management system.

From 1 to 11: by 2040, we’ll (perhaps) be ‘green’

Dr Karnbach has no doubt that eleven electric empty container handlers will one day be in operation at the HCS depot. However, it is unclear whether the entire empty container handlers fleet will be electrified by 2040. Although Hamburg has decided, via a referendum, to be climate-neutral by 2040, the specific path to achieving this remains to be seen. It is clear to everyone involved in the roll-out project that they are currently taking the first pioneering steps together. Dr Karnbach puts it bluntly when describing the task ahead of them: “Building a diesel filling station with a 10,000-litre tank is ‘peanuts’ in comparison. Setting up a charging infrastructure for eleven large machines, plus four terminal tractors and smaller forklifts, represents an investment of many millions of euros. And this transition must be economically viable for us. That is the major challenge.” It is a challenge that the Karnbachs are taking on, whilst many other companies in the industry are still sitting back and waiting to see what happens. Dr Karnbach does not share this attitude. For one simple reason: “I care about the planet we live on, and unlike Mr Trump, I am convinced that climate change is a reality.” 

“Kalmar wants to support HCS in its pioneering role,” emphasises Bernd Pagel, “so that together we can achieve the goal of ‘being climate-neutral by 2040’.” Until then, there are still “many small things we need to learn and sort out”, says Dr Karnbach, “but anyone who doesn’t start now won’t stand the slightest chance of achieving the goal of climate neutrality by 2040.”