HHLA is relocating two of its container gantry cranes within the Port of Hamburg, from the Tollerort terminal to O’Swaldkai, the company said in its press release. The first container gantry crane at the Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT) will be pushed onto a pontoon measuring 70 by 32 metres at high tide on Tuesday afternoon (27 September).
In favourable weather conditions, three tugs, accompanied by the port police, will pull the pontoon up the river Elbe to the O’Swaldkai multipurpose terminal. The northern branch of the Elbe will be closed completely for the duration of the roughly one-hour journey. The second container gantry crane is to be transported in the same manner on Thursday.
Unikai, a subsidiary of HHLA and Grimaldi Group, will deploy the former CTT cranes at two berths at O’Swaldkai for handling the larger and ever higher ConRo ships. In addition to rolling cargo that is loaded via a ramp, these multipurpose vessels also have up to 4,100 standard containers (TEU) on board.
The newly arriving container gantry cranes can handle these types of ship more effectively because they are higher and have longer jibs. The 49.5-metre-long jibs tower 36 metres above the quay wall and can process 18 transverse container rows on the ship. In addition to the spreader, they can lift 60 tonnes of load.