The Cosco (China Ocean Shipping Company) Netherlands was the first vessel to be processed by the five new Liebherr mega-ship gantry cranes at Hamburger Hafen und Logistik’s (HHLA) Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT) at the Port of Hamburg.
The gantry cranes discharged and loaded around 7 000 TEUs onto the 13 400-TEU-capacity ship over two days.
“Processing the Cosco Netherlands was a first test of our new mega-ship gantry cranes - and they passed with flying colours,” said CTT managing director, Thomas Koch.
According to a statement released by the Port of Hamburg yesterday (Monday), the gantry cranes have a jib length of 74 metres and a lifting height of 51.5 metres which enables them to handle up to nine containers placed on top of one another on deck.
Each crane weighs 1 500 tonnes and can handle a maximum payload of 63 tonnes.
“HHLA made the necessary investment at the right time to make its container terminals fit for the largest vessels in the world, which are increasingly being deployed by the shipping alliances,” said HHLA executive board member, Jens Hansen.
According to the Port of Hamburg, the number of ultra large container vessels calling at the port had risen steeply over the past two years with 18 000-TEU-capacity (and higher) ships calling at the port more than 54 times in the first half of 2017. This was five times higher than the first half of 2015.
