Five ‘megamax’ quayside cranes have arrived in the River Mersey for the Liverpool2 container terminal, completing the final stage of its voyage from China.
The new cranes were received as part of Peel Port’s 300 million dollar investment programmes aiming to expand and develop the existing Port of Liverpool.
A total of eight ship-to-shore megamax cranes and 22 cantilever rail-monitored gantry cranes are being supplied to Peel Ports as part of the company’s investment in Liverpool2.
The investment in facilities will allow Liverpool2 to accommodate a large majority of the world’s current container fleet, including vessels up to 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) or two 13,500 TEU vessels simultaneously.
Produced by Chinese company Zhenhua Heavy Industries, the super structures measure 92 metres high to the top of the frame and 132 metres high when the boom is raised, each weighing around 1600 tonnes.
According to chief executive of Peel Ports, Mark Whitworth “Our investment in leading-edge infrastructure and technology will allow Liverpool to offer the quickest and most cost effective route to market, not just for goods destined for the north of England, but also for Scotland, Ireland and North Wales, opening up new logistics routes estimated at four million TEU every year and increasing potential import and export trade.”
An estimated 1,500 moves are anticipated from the cranes which have the ability to operate at speeds in excess of 30 moves per hour and work in wind speeds of up to 88 kilometres per hour.
The fleet of STS and CRMG cranes is supported by a multi-million pound investment in state-of-the-art quayside facilities and support technology, including a fully-integrated Navis N4 terminal operating system, AutoGates and ABB equipment controls.
A combination of infrastructure and technology will reduce the time taken to transfer containers from port to road or rail, helping the Port of Liverpool to achieve targets of 65 per of haulage turned round in 30 minutes and 95 per cent of haulage turned in 60 minutes.