Southampton terminal operator orders US$42 million ship-to-shore cranes

ASSOCIATED British Ports (ABP) has awarded a GBP26 million (US$41.7 million) contract to Liebherr to manufacture four new ship-to-shore gantry cranes as part of its redevelopment of container berths 201/202 at the Port of Southampton.

The berth and cranes will enable Southampton's container terminal, a joint venture with terminal operator DP World, to continue to handle the growing number of ultra large container vessels.

The GBP26 million crane contract is part of an announcement made in September that ABP would invest a total of GBP150 million in developing the container terminal to assure the long-term future of container handling at the Port of Southampton.

The investment project will allow the reconstruction of berths 201/202 which will combine the two into a new fourth berth so the container terminal can continue to service four of the largest container ships simultaneously, a statement from Associated British Ports said.

Capable of handling 16,000+ TEU vessels, the quay will be 500 metres in length with a 16-metre draft alongside, which will add 600,000 TEU in capacity to the terminal. The investment includes capital dredging to widen and deepen the channel access into Southampton, to take advantage of the 17 hours of rising and high tide.

Following construction at Liebherr's factory in Ireland the cranes will be shipped to Southampton in component form before being assembled on site. Once operational, the cranes will be able to handle mega vessels 24 containers wide and will have a lift capacity of 65 tonnes. The four new cranes will be supplemented by a fifth similar Liebherr crane, which will be relocated from Southampton's existing container berths.

Doug Morrison, ABP port director Southampton, said: "The number of large vessels in operation has increased considerably in recent years, and we are now seeing regular calls by 13,000-TEU vessels. It's imperative that we have state of the art cranes on our new berth to allow short turnaround times for these vessels."

Chris Lewis, managing director, DP World Southampton, added: "Having this new infrastructure capability is vital and underscores Southampton's position as the first and last deep-sea port of call in Northern Europe for the Far East, with its sheltered location, first-class road and rail distribution links to the Midlands and market-leading service and productivity."

After the new cranes are delivered and assembled on site, the new berth is expected to be operational in early 2014. The Port of Southampton is home to the UK's second-largest container terminal handling more than 1.5 million TEU each year.