Ports and Multimodal Terminals Place Crane and Reach Stacker Orders

AUSTRALIA – SWEDEN – US – Crane maker Liebherr has sold another mobile harbour crane to Northern Stevedoring Services (NSS), the stevedoring and logistics company which operates in all of regional Queensland’s major port facilities. The new unit, a type LHM 420, will be sited to operate on Berth 3 and 4 in the Port of Townsville and is the third LHM crane for the freight handler which has been operating an LHM 550 and an LHM 1300. NSS General Manager Chris Ullett, commented:

“It’s taken a few months to get quay approval, but Liebherr never gave up, offering solutions to all the problems. The quay has many restrictions, but between the port authority, Liebherr and ourselves, we finally made it work.”

This order brings Liebherr Maritime Cranes’ mobile harbour crane tally for Australia up to ten in the last 18 months, with two for Fremantle, one for Bunbury, Geraldton, Port Hedland and Darwin, three for Henderson and now one for Townsville. The new crane comes with double supporting pads and software to assist in meeting the quay limitations, along with Liebherr’s Cycoptronic anti-sway system and a twinlift spreader. The LHM 420 is also fitted to operate with the Rotabox system for dust-free high-value mineral handling. Liebherr’s salesman, Gordon Clark, said:

“We’ve had a few sales on the West coast last year, as well as Darwin. It’s been a while since we have delivered a crane here in the East, so great to win this order. I think the support of Morrow [Liebherr’s local sales agent] in the area has helped us a lot in the last years.”

Another crane maker celebrating success of late is Finnish company Konecranes whose hybrid reach stacker has now completed a full year of field testing at the Port of Helsingborg on the south-west coast of Sweden. The test machines have now permanently joined the existing fleet of 15 Konecranes reach stackers and forklifts in the port.

The equipment utilises a serial hybrid diesel/electric driveline, an electrified hydraulic closed circuit lifting system and super capacitor-based energy storage which the maker claims demonstrates a saving on fuel consumption of between 30% and 50% during normal handling of fully loaded containers compared to conventional reach stackers whilst over the test period the tested machines’ reduced emissions amounted to 80 tonnes less CO₂.

Konecranes also recently received another order for rubber tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) and reach stackers from transportation supplier CSX Intermodal Terminals Inc. in the US. Four Konecranes RTGs will be delivered to two CSX Intermodal Terminals’ facilities in Chicago, Illinois, and two reach stackers to Charleston, South Carolina. All the equipment is scheduled for delivery before March, 2015 and the order has been included in Konecranes’ order intake for the first quarter 2014.

The RTGs are capable of lifting 50 tonnes and are able to stack one over three containers high and will be used for stacking and moving containers from rail to truck and vice versa. The two reach stackers meanwhile will be used for loading and unloading containers from trains in first and second rail each having a lifting capacity of 45 tonnes in first rail and 43 tonnes in second rail.

Photo: A Liebherr LHM 420 in action.