The Port of Felixstowe has ordered two new gantry cranes for its Berths 8&9 and work has started to raise 10 of the existing cranes on Trinity Terminal at the port.

The new cranes, ordered from ZPMC in Shanghai, will bring to 12 the number on the port’s newest terminal. They will have a 59.5 metre outreach from the quay, sufficient to allow them to handle future generations of container vessels with containers stowed up to 24-wide across the deck.

The maximum operating height of 10 of the cranes on Trinity Terminal, also built by ZPMC, will be increased to 46.5 metres by raising these cranes. The greater height will allow them to work vessels with containers stowed up to 11 high on deck unrestricted under all tidal conditions.

Commenting on the project, Clemence Cheng, Executive Director, Hutchison Ports, said:  “The Port of Felixstowe has facilities to handle vessels of all sizes. It is the clear port-of-choice for the largest mega ships and we had 137 calls by vessels of over 18,000 TEU last year. Increasing the total number of cranes on the port and increasing the height of 10 cranes on Trinity Terminal will give us greater flexibility to accommodate the largest categories of ship size. In total, we will have 22 cranes capable of handling the largest container vessels in service.”

Delivery of the new cranes is scheduled for February 2018.

The contract to raise the height of the Trinity Terminal cranes has been let to ZPMC’s Dutch subsidiary.  Work is due to be completed in December 2018.