General Electric's power conversion technology boosts box handling speed

GENERAL Electric (GE) has developed a new head block coupling system that enables double hoist ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes capable of handling up to four containers with completely different nominal loads simultaneously.

In addition, the automatic coupling or decoupling of the freely suspended spreaders will be possible at any time, according to the company.

The new GE technology will enable ports to compete more effectively in the challenging and rapidly growing seaborne cargo industry.

According to the Drewry report 2011, the world port TEU throughput will reach the 1.1 billion mark in 2020, compared to 542 million TEU in 2010. Besides expansion projects, advanced container cranes increasingly will be needed to handle the growing volume and the outsized new panamax ships with capacities of more than 10,000 TEU.

GE's new offering improves the utilisation of the container cranes as well the handling rates. Under optimal conditions, the new system can double a crane's cargo handling per shift.

Previously, the hoisting of containers with very different loads led to different rope lengths, resulting in disruption of the head block coupling. With the new system, these head block displacements can be accommodated by the drive system using sensor data and real-time controller calculations.

"With the new head block coupling, GE again is demonstrating the innovation that differentiates us and supports customers in increasing productivity, which will help GE to become a leading company in the crane industry," said Georg Moehlenkamp, global product leadership manager for GE Energy's power conversion business.