#ShippingCRANES- Liebherr's Irish based crane plant in Killarney, Co. Kerry, has received an order for four container carriers from Lyttelton, Port of Christchurch in New Zealand, according to Handy Shipping Guide.

The south island port's freight handling facility, saw a box capacity throughput increase of 16.8% to the end of June 2012.

The order for the four staddle-carrier (SC350T) machines are to be supplied with a 50 foot spreader and will join a pair of Liebherr ship to shore cranes at the port already in situ. The cranes will be linked to a remote container tracking system, providing real-time accurate information on the position and handling rates of containers within the terminal.

On the north island, the port of Tauranga had previously ordered three of Liebherr's Irish-built straddle-carriers and once again this latest order followed detailed evaluations by port engineers and drivers during site visits to existing terminals using Liebherr machines.

Christchurch it seems is recovered from the traumatic scenes witnessed during the earthquakes of two years ago and the new cranes are scheduled for delivery from Liebherr in mid-2013.