Reach Stacker
A Reach Stacker is a large mobile handling vehicle fitted with a telescopic boom and a spreader, used to lift, stack, move and load containers in terminals, depots and rail yards. Highly manoeuvrable, it can pick a container, carry it, and stack it several high (and reach over one or two rows), as well as load and unload trucks and railcars — all with a single flexible machine.
Reach stackers offer flexibility and mobility that suit small and medium terminals, container depots, and rail terminals, and handle empties and full containers as well as odd movements a fixed crane cannot. They complement or substitute for straddle carriers and RTGs depending on volumes and yard layout, generally being more economical at lower throughput. A related smaller machine, the empty container handler, is optimised for stacking empties high. Reach stackers are a common, versatile workhorse of container yards and depots, and their productivity and positioning feed into depot and terminal operating systems.
For depots and small-to-medium terminals, the reach stacker is the flexible all-rounder — one mobile machine that lifts, stacks, and loads trucks and railcars without a fixed crane. Its mobility makes it the workhorse of container depots and rail yards, and its economics at lower volumes are why not every yard needs straddles or RTGs.
What is a reach stacker used for?
Lifting, stacking and moving containers in terminals, depots and rail yards, and loading and unloading trucks and railcars.
When is a reach stacker preferred over a gantry crane?
At small and medium terminals, depots and rail yards where its mobility and lower cost suit the throughput better than fixed cranes.