Cargo Operations: Virginia, Liebherr

Port of Virginia Cranes for VIG Expansion Effort Depart Europe

The heavy-load vessel Happy Buccaneer left Poland bound for Virginia laden with six new rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs), signaling the start of a two-year cycle that will see the delivery of 86 new cranes that are the centerpieces of the expansion taking place at The Port of Virginia®.

This inaugural delivery is heading for Virginia International Gateway (VIG). Once the vessel is safely on berth, the units will be off-loaded, mounted on rails, taken through some minor assembly, tested and then put into service by the end of April, when the first of 13 new container stacks at VIG will be ready for use

In November 2016, the port finalized a $217 million contract with Konecranes for that company to build and deliver 86 RMGs. Roanoke-based TMEIC is supplying the technology for the operation systems that control the cranes’ functions. The contract is the largest one-time order for automated stacking cranes (ASCs) in industry history.

Following this first delivery of RMGs, which is scheduled for the end of January, subsequent deliveries will take place and the new container stacks will go into service at intervals through November. In total, 26 new RMGs will be delivered to VIG and the remaining 60 will go to NIT. The expansion at VIG will be complete by spring 2019.

In February 2017, construction on the $320 million VIG expansion got underway. The work includes adding 13 new container stacks to the container stack yard – supported by 26 new RMGs – lengthening the berth, installation of four new ship-to-shore container cranes, doubling the size of the rail operation and adding new lanes to the truck gate. Ultimately, the work will increase the annual throughput capacity of the terminal to 1.2 million containers.

Two Liebherr Mobile Harbour Cranes Being Installed in Emden

The German port handling company Ems Ports Agency & Stevedoring (EPAS) Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG in Emden, Germany recently received two new Liebherr mobile harbour cranes type LHM 420 from the Liebherr maritime headquarters in Rostock, Germany.

The two devices will further improve the logistic process at the Nordkai terminal in Emden, Germany. Each crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 124 tonnes at an outreach of up to 18 metres. While manual tandem lifts have to be restricted to 75% of the crane's capacity, Sycratronic guarantees 100% utilisation of the maximum load capacity. In tandem lift operation EPAS can now lift up goods weighting up to 248 tonnes. Greater productivity is also achieved through the ability to handle multiple ships simultaneously.

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