Port of Felixstowe to Get New Container Cranes and Improve Capacity of Existing Infrastructure

UK – The deep water Port of Felixstowe has ordered two new gantry cranes for its Berths 8&9, and work has started to raise the height ten of the existing cranes on Trinity Terminal at the port. The new cranes will bring to twelve the number on the port’s newest terminal. They will have a 59.5 metre outreach from the quay, sufficient to allow them to handle future generations of container vessels with containers stowed up to 24-wide across the deck.

The maximum operating height of the existing ten cranes on Trinity Terminal will be increased to 46.5 metres by the elevation works. The greater height will allow them to load and discharge vessels with containers stowed up to 11 high on deck regardless of the tidal conditions. Commenting on the project, Clemence Cheng, Executive Director, Hutchison Ports, said:

“The Port of Felixstowe has facilities to handle vessels of all sizes. It is the clear port-of-choice for the largest mega ships and we had 137 calls by vessels of over 18,000 TEU last year. Increasing the total number of cranes on the port and increasing the height of 10 cranes on Trinity Terminal will give us greater flexibility to accommodate the largest categories of ship size. In total, we will have 22 cranes capable of handling the largest container vessels in service.”

Delivery of the new cranes is scheduled for February 2018 with work on the elevation works to be completed by December 2018.The new gantry cranes will be constructed by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co (ZPMC) which also fitted out London Gateway on the River Thames as well as Liverpool2 plus several US ports with container handling cranes in various multi-million dollar orders, and the contract to raise the height of the Trinity Terminal cranes has been left to ZPMC’s Dutch subsidiary.