We crane, we saw, we conquered
3 of the largest shipping container cranes on the planet have been assembled in Cobh and were set to leave for the USA yesterday, Wednesday.
Once they leave Cork, they will undertake a 10 day sea voyage on board a specialist vessel, the BigLift Baffin, before arriving at Maher Terminals LLC at the Port of New York and New Jersey.
The megamax ship to shore container cranes (STS) were designed and manufactured in Killarney by Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. These are the 3 group of Liebherr STS container cranes to ship from Cobh. When they enter service in a number of months, they will work on megamax size container vessels and will move many millions of containers over the course of their lifetime.
Ship to shore container cranes are often transported in large, preassembled components for assembly on site at the destination port. They can also be shipped fully assembled, particularly when assembly space is limited at the customer’s site, which is the case in this instance. However, fully assembled transport logistics are complicated by the clearance requirements under the Bayonne Bridge, which connects Bayonne in New Jersey with Staten Island in New York.
Before arriving at Maher Terminals, the cranes and vessel need to pass under the bridge, which has a clearance of 66 metres. A fully assembled crane on board a vessel can be significantly higher than this.
The preferred solution is to transport the cranes partly assembled with the upper structure resting on the lower structure for the duration of the voyage. When the vessel arrives in America, it will anchor off Sandy Hook where final preparations for passing under the bridge will be made. The vessel will wait until tidal conditions are optimum for clearance under the Bayonne Bridge.
Liebherr’s Managing Director-Sales, Gerry Bunyan, said: “We are delighted with this latest order to be able to continue our longstanding relationship with Maher Terminals. “With these latest technically advanced machines working alongside the other Liebherr STS cranes at the port, we are confident Maher Terminals will be able to offer improved services and faster turnarounds to their customers and continue to grow as North America’s largest marine container terminal.”
Founded in 1958 as the first Liebherr factory outside of Germany, Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ship to shore container cranes, rail mounted gantry cranes and rubber tyre gantry cranes. From its base in Killarney, the company designs, builds and exports container cranes worldwide.