Peel Ports Group in the UK has invested in two new ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes for the Port of Liverpool (Terminal 1), which were built by Liebherr Container Cranes Limited and likewise for the Port of Cork's new pair of STS cranes as Afloat reported today.

The investment at the Merseyside port of new infrastructure is to further support growth from Intra European Feeder networks (including Afloat's adds BG Freight Line) and specialist carrier Atlantic Container Line (ACL).

A significant investment for the company, the new container gantry cranes will increase the number of (STS) cranes at the terminal and overall berth productivity still further whilst increasing height and reach capabilities of the terminal.

The new design utilises high tensile steel and a lattice boom and beam construction, designed and built by Liehberr, resulting in a lighter crane with reduced wheel loads, a key consideration due to the narrow span and quay structure at the Port of Liverpool’s Terminal 1.

David Huck, Managing Director at Peel Ports said: Our investment in the very latest 'Panamax' container cranes at Terminal 1 demonstrates our long term commitment to investing in our customers and further compliments our Irish Sea hub proposition connecting the world to Liverpool and by far the largest consuming and exporting region of the UK.

The new cranes will significantly enhance the Port of Liverpool’s capabilities for ACL, as well as other current and future users of Terminal 1. For us, innovation and improvement are at the heart of our Port-centric solutions, and we’re excited to get the new cranes in place and commissioned for the start of 2022.

ACL is the Port of Liverpool’s longest-serving container carrier and, in 2019, signed a 15-year contract extension agreement with Peel Ports for container and roll-on / roll-off (RoRo) operations. The agreement is valid until 2035 and signifies ACL’s confidence in the growing volume of transatlantic trade between the UK and North America. (See Afloat's coverage dating from 2016 featuring Atlantic Star, leadship of ACL's 4th generation (G4) con-ro ships).

Andrew Abbott, CEO at ACL said: “Liverpool has been Atlantic Container Line’s home port in the UK for 54 years. The port has seen four generations of ships make calls twice a week as technology changed and transatlantic cargo volumes grew. ACL’s current generation of Container/RoRo vessel is twice as large as its predecessor, but uses the same footprint in order to fit through the lock at Royal Seaforth.

“To carry all the extra cargo, the new ships are considerably higher, so high, state-of-the-art gantry cranes are essential in order to productively handle them. Peel Ports answered the challenge with brand-new hardware, enabling them to handle the new ACL vessels more quicky and more efficiently than ever before.

“We congratulate Peel Ports for this fantastic accomplishment. ACL looks forward with confidence to a bright future at the Port of Liverpool.”

A Chinese flagged heavy-lift ship which called to Dublin Port to unload a pair of rubber tyred gantry (RTG) container cranes has since departed and arrived to Belfast Harbour this morning to unload a further three, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Afloat tracked the heavy-lift ship along with accompanying Svitzer tugs in Belfast Harbour. This saw Svitzer Surrey (at the bow) while Svitzer Sussex assisted at the stern.  

As also previously reported Da Ji's delivery project cargo of 'straddle-carriers' to Dublin Port was inaccurate, despite information sourced from various relevant bodies within the port company's estate. In fact the part-cargo as mentioned above were Kalmar built RTG's which are to be used at Irish Continental Group (ICG)'s container divsion, Dublin Ferryport Terminal (DFT) a 32-acre site leased from DPC and located on the north side of the port close to ICG's Irish Ferries terminal.

Afloat still awaits a response from ICG on further details on the container terminal's new infrastructure, as they were not necessarily loaded on board Da Ji's last port of call prior to Irish waters, Oran in Algeria, north Africa. Perhaps these cranes came from China?

Of the original five of RTG's which Afloat tracked on the Da Ji's arrival to Dublin Port on Wednesday, the remaining three are due to be discharged in Belfast Harbour where ICG also operate their Belfast Container Terminal (BCT) division located at Victoria Terminal 3 (VT3).

BCT operate's this sole container terminal at Belfast Harbour under a services concession agreement with Belfast Harbour Commissioners (BHC).

The 27 acre-site likewise of it's Dublin counterpart, is located on the north side of Belfast Port's estate. In addition both terminals, BCT and DFT are served by ICG's other container division EUCON whose 'feeder' containerships connect Belfast and Dublin with the major northern European mainland hub-ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.

According to ICG's website, BCT's container compound comprises of 3 ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes, 3 rail-mounted gantry cranes and also the same number of straddle carriers.

The installation of the RTG's is part of a £40m container infrastructure upgrade at VT3 as Afloat previously reported. The three-year investment programme will see Belfast Harbour invest £28m in ten new cranes and undertake major civil works to reconfigure the terminal. This will enable the terminal to increase capacity by around 30% and improve terminal efficiency.

In total there are 250 sailings annually between Belfast and the ports in Belgium and The Netherlands and according to the port calls also to Le Havre, France. Last year VT3 handled almost 128,000 containers, a 1.5% increase on the previous year and the highest volume since 2010.

The work at VT3 (which opened in 1993) is amongst the largest investments undertaken and according to the port will lead to the most modern container handling terminals of its size in Europe.

As Afloat reported last month (see photo caption), a pair Ship to Shore (STS) cranes manufactured by Liebherr Cranes were delivered to the VT2 for assembly before moved across the River Lagan where the VT3 terminal is located.

According to Belfast Harbour last year, these RTG's also from Kalmar, which will make for faster and more versatile operations than the current yard cranes. In addition be operated remotely, further increasing productivity. Then it was also reported that the first five of 8 RTGs will be delivered in November and with the first pair of RTGs ready for use in early Q1 of this year.

This morning also in Belfast Harbour, Afloat tracked the Chinese built second newbuild Stena E-Flexer series ropax ferry Stena Edda which entered service this year on the Belfast-Birkenhead (Liverpool) service. Stena's terminal in the port for the 'Liverpool' route is based at VT2 whereas those for Cairnryan (Loch Ryan Port) are based downriver at VT4.

As for the unloading of the heavy-liftship, Da Ji, progress in the discharging operations is subject to weather with the ship scheduled to depart Belfast Harbour by tomorrow evening.

Cargo handling capacity has been boosted by a Waterford based shipping agency by investing in a new mobile harbour crane with an innovative design that reduces its carbon footprint.

South East Port Services provide stevedoring, warehousing and ships agency services to shipping and client companies at the Port of Waterford in Belview.

The Liebherr LHM 280 was purpose-built for the port services company by Liebherr in Rostock, Germany, over a six-month period with Irish company closely involved throughout.

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