Photo: HHLA / Dietmar Hasenpusch
By The Maritime Executive 2019-11-07 19:06:46
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) took delivery of three new container gantry cranes for its Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB) in Hamburg on November 5.
The cranes will provide HHLA with additional capacities for handling ultra large container vessels with a cargo volume of 23,000 TEUs and more.
The cranes were delivered on the Zhen Hua 27 and were manufactured by ZPMC to replace three smaller units which have already been dismantled. HHLA is expecting delivery of another two large container gantry cranes of the same type in the first quarter of 2020. After the new handling equipment has gradually commenced operating, HHLA will have an additional mega-ship berth at Burchardkai.
The largest container gantry cranes currently at the Port of Hamburg can accommodate ships with a width of 24 containers side by side. The jibs of the new cranes are almost 80 meters long and can reach across 26 rows of containers. The cranes, each weighing 2,480 tonnes, can move two 40-foot containers or four 20-foot containers with a combined weight of 110 tonnes in one go. That is the same as 70 mid-size cars. Over 30 container gantry cranes are now in operation at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai. 18 of these are mega-ship cranes.
Last year, the number of calls at the Port of Hamburg by container mega-ships with a capacity of 18,000 TEU to 22,000 TEU increased by 47 percent to 150 calls. This trend is continuing: in the first half of 2019, the number grew once again by almost 40 percent.
Burchardkai is both the oldest and the largest container handling facility at the Port of Hamburg. The first container ship in Hamburg was handled here in 1968. It had a capacity of just 1,200 TEU. Today, the biggest container ships in the world are handled at Burchardkai. After the five new container gantry cranes have commenced operating, the number of mega-ship berths at CTB will increase from two to three.
The investment in new container gantry cranes is part of an expansion program at CTB. In addition to new container gantry cranes and other handling equipment, this includes the construction of new storage blocks and the expansion of the container railway station in 2019. HHLA plans to invest €1 billion ($1.1 billion) throughout the Group by 2022, approximately €450 million ($497 million) of which will be spent on container handling.
source: www.maritime-executive.com
