Sennebogen 870 E cuts fuel use for Finnish stevedore in Pori

Conditions on the Finnish west coast leave little room for sensitive equipment. Rain, snow and icy gusts of up to 50 km/h sweep across the quay walls at Pori well into spring, and through it all Ahtauskone Oy keeps ships moving. The stevedoring company, founded in 2010, runs a terminal at the port and loads and unloads vessels carrying anything its customers bring in.

“In terms of volume, peat is our main cargo, followed by scrap metal and crushed stone. But we are highly flexible and can handle all types of break bulk and bulk materials depending on our customers’ needs.”

— Timo Harjula, CEO, Ahtauskone

Alongside a range of wheel loaders, the company has relied on a Sennebogen 870 E material handler for the past five years. On its mobile undercarriage the machine can be moved anywhere across the port area, switching between general cargo, bulk materials and scrap. Harjula puts its output at around 1,000 tonnes of scrap metal per hour — a strong figure for a machine in this class.

A fifth less fuel than its predecessor

The number that stands out in daily operation, however, is at the pump. Compared with the competitor material handler Ahtauskone ran before, the 870 E burns roughly 20 per cent less fuel — around 5,600 litres a year — which keeps about 15 tonnes of CO2 out of the air annually.

“The Sennebogen consumes around 20 % less fuel than the comparable material handler from a competitor that we used previously.”

— Ronny Ala-Tuori, senior machine operator, Ahtauskone

Where the savings come from

Sennebogen points to three factors behind the machine’s economy. Its Green Hybrid energy recovery system stores energy from the boom’s lowering movements and feeds it back into the next lift, which the manufacturer says can cut consumption by up to 35 per cent depending on the application. The hydraulic circuit is designed for efficient flow, so the engine can run at lower speed, and high-strength materials with structural reinforcements in the undercarriage, boom and stick keep the moving masses down.

The operator sits in a Portcab cab with a Skylift elevating extension, giving a clear view down into ships’ holds and over the working area.

Service backing from Rotator

Local support comes from Rotator, Sennebogen’s sales and service partner in Finland, whose network of service locations across the country underpins the machine’s availability. For Ahtauskone, the combination of high handling rates, modest fuel consumption and reliability in rough coastal weather has made the 870 E a fixture of its quayside operation.