Thamesport has ordered an eighth ship-to-shore gantry crane. The ultra post-panamax unit is being built by Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC) in Shanghai, and will be delivered in April 2010. With an outreach of 62.5 metres, the crane can handle ships with containers stowed 22-wide on deck.
David Gledhill, chief executive officer of Hutchison Ports, which owns the port, said: “London Thamesport is one of the UK’s leading container ports, and one of only three capable of handling 8,000 teu vessels. There is capacity at the port to accommodate additional traffic, and it is important that we continue to invest in state-of-the-art equipment to enable us to offer the quickest vessel turnarounds for our customers.”
The new crane has an 85-tonne heavy lift capability, and will be able to twin-lift twenty foot containers. The electrical drive system is to be supplied by Siemens and based upon the Siemens Master Drive system. This is the same as the previous ZPMC quay crane delivered to London Thamesport in April 2008.
