DP World adds three giant quay cranes at Port of Antwerp-Bruges
After a three-month sea voyage from Shanghai, three giant quay cranes have arrived in the Deurganck dock at operator DP World's Antwerp Gateway container terminal. They can handle the current generation of the world's very largest container ships.
For a while, the impressive cargo had to take shelter from Algeria due to stormy weather. But by early April, the destination had been reached. From far outside the Deurganck dock, the giants of Chinese supplier ZPMC could already be seen. Even after the ship had sailed in, it still took about six hours to drive the cranes with extreme precision across a special walkway on the quay. In the process, everything has to be perfectly right: weather, wind, water level and visibility. The actual preparation, consisting of connecting to the high-voltage grid, adjusting the basic movements and installing the container registration system, takes a week. The first quayside crane will be operational in July. They run entirely on green electricity, generated by DP World's biogas plant and wind turbine.
Each costs 10 million euros, weighs 1,950 tonnes, can lift up to 100 tonnes 52 m high. With the flip up they are 138 m high, with the flip down they are still 92.5 m. They have a reach of 71 m, allowing them to handle up to 26 rows of containers, which is one row further than the last generation of container ships.
This project is part of the modernisation and expansion plan of some 200 million euros of this global logistics player.