[200816.EN.BIZ] New Rail Yard, Super Cranes To Allow Hamburg To Dock Two 20,000-TEUers

THREE ZPMC mega shore cranes to handle two of the biggest mega ships at the same time have been delivered from Shanghai to Hamburg's big port operator, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) for its Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB).

HHLA now has a total of eight of these mega gantry cranes at CTB. As soon as the three new gantry cranes have gone into operation, CTB will be able to handle ships with a capacity of 20,000 TEU or more at two berths, reports London's Port Technology.

The three container gantry cranes arrived in Hamburg on August 14 after a 10-week voyage.

Before taking charge of them from Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC) personnel, CTB staff carried out extensive tests on the container gantry cranes on site.

They will be prepared for use over the next few months before the final inspection and will be put into operation successively at CTB at berth 5/6 from the end of 2016.

HHLA will then have two berths for handling the latest generation of mega-ships at the CTB.

"The number of calls made by particularly large vessels has been on the rise for quite a while," said HHLA director Stefan Behn.

"That's why it's important for us to be able to provide our shipping company customers with two berths at the CTB in future, where we can handle the mega ships.

"This ensures the high level of productivity that our customers are used to and provides for the flexibility that is necessary for handling these very large vessels," Dr Behn said.

The new gantry cranes from ZPMC are designed for containerships with 24 transverse container rows.

They can move two FEUs or four TEUs with one hub. Each container gantry crane weighs 2,400 tonnes and can handle a maximum payload of 110 tonnes.

"We are also planning the expansion of the rail terminal. The CTB rail terminal is the second largest in Europe, and we handle almost as many rail containers there as the entire Port of Rotterdam," said Dr Behn.

Source : SN-TR.