Cargo ports handle thousands of ships every year. Efficiently offloading and loading vessels is essential for their smooth operation and maintaining global supply chains.
Many ports however face capacity constraints, with newer lifting equipment required to accommodate bigger ships and loads.
When it comes to container crane installations at ports, work must be carefully managed to minimize disruption and avoid interfering with operations.
The Port of Valencia took delivery of two Liebherr ship-to-shore container cranes in large, preassembled components, for integration on site.
Building these giants in one of the Mediterranean’s busiest seaports would require expert forward planning and efficient execution.
Both STS cranes were shipped from the Port of Fenit, Ireland, to the Port of Valencia, in Spain. Their components were offloaded onto SPMTs using the delivery vessel’s crane. The largest of these were the main beam and the derrick boom, which measured 69.6 and 76.3m meters, respectively.
Almost 90 axle lines of SPMTs were used on the project to move the components safely across the site.
Once the components were taken to the assembly area, Mammoet used crawler cranes, telescopic cranes, cherry pickers and forklifts to begin assembly of the first crane.
The working cranes had different capacities across the different stages of the project. The telescopic cranes had lifting capacities of between 80t to 250t; the two crawlers each had a capacity of 600t.
The telescopic crane worked with the crawlers to top and tail the main frame sections – performing a tandem lift to place them in the vertical upright position and onto bogies.
During the project, Mammoet, along with engineers from Liebherr, managed different teams of sub-contractors to make all the mechanical and electrical connections between the different components.
Once both cranes were assembled, they were driven to their final position on the quayside.
For this stage, SPMTs was used but fitted with two interfacing transport beams to help spread the load and connect the crane’s landside frame to its seaside frame for stability.
The STS cranes have a transport bracket on each of their four legs. The SPMTs were driven underneath the cranes, and the transport beams were connected to these brackets.
Once everything was securely fastened, the STS cranes were lifted using the on-board stroke of the SPMT. They were then driven 600 meters to the quayside and lowered into their longitudinal rails.
“As soon as the components were delivered, they were immediately taken away from the quayside to allow operations to continue,” said Javier de Pablo Arenzana, Sales Manager at Mammoet. “The installation process was equally as quick, minimizing disruption.
“We have worked with Liebherr for many years and across a number of different projects. Liebherr value our expertise and experience and are proud to be one of Liebherr’s key partners for this kind of work.”
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