Global Ports Investments PLC announces that a new LIEBHERR LHM 550 mobile harbour crane was put into operation at the Petrolesport terminal in the Greater Port of Saint Petersburg. The equipment was purchased as part of the Global Ports facility development and upgrade programme in Russia.

The crane, which has a capacity of 144 tonnes, was manufactured for the Group at LIEBHERR’s facility in Rostock (Germany) and was delivered pre-assembled to PLP by sea.

A LIEBHERR LHM 550 crane is capable of operating in hook, crossbeam, spreader and tipping modes and has high mobility and manoeuvring ability. Its ergonomic tower crane cab offers excellent visibility and safe control of all operating crane movements.

PLP is one of the leaders in the transshipment of heavy and oversized equipment in the Northwest Basin. The commissioning of the new crane will allow the terminal to increase the throughput and the cargo handling efficiency, to optimize the costs of equipment repair and maintenance, while maintaining high quality of service for customers.

The acquisition of a second similar crane is expected in late 2020 — early 2021 as part of the development and upgrade programme. The presence of two modern mobile cranes with increased lifting capacity, which can work synchronously, will expand the capabilities of PLP in handling heavy, oversized and project cargoes, in particular for the oil and power industries. In synchronous mode, the cranes can handle cargoes weighing up to 270 tonnes.

Twice as many reefer ships with conventional cargo are currently arriving at the Rotterdam Fruit Wharf in the Merwehaven. The measures taken in response to COVID-19 mean shipping companies have been unable to put enough reefer containers in the loading ports of South Africa. Consequently, these conventional reefer ships – with containers on deck and pallets in the hold – have become considerably more popular.

36 refrigerated containers – also called reefers – and 2,482 pallets full of South African fruit (including grapefruit, oranges, pears and lemons) were transshipped from the Crown Garnet at Rotterdam Fruit Wharf on 17 and 18 May.

The ship belongs to the Reefer Alliance, a joint venture created by Seatrade and Baltic Shipping that operates a service between the South African ports of Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. From these loading ports, these ships transport citrus fruit in containers both on deck and below deck to Rotterdam and St. Petersburg.

Cold stores on the waterfront

“This kind of ship usually arrives in Rotterdam once every two weeks and the number of pallets it has in the hold is considerably less. This one is already the second in a series of four arrivals that have taken place in May.Owing to the shortage of 40 TEU reefers, demand for this service is much higher than usual,” says Commercial Manager Peter van de Laar.

He believes Rotterdam could easily cope with even more conventional reefer ships.

“We used to handle three of this kind of ship a week. Currently, almost all fruit is transported in reefer containers. We are the only terminal in Rotterdam that is still properly equipped to receive conventional reefer ships. No one else has a cold store right on the waterfront like we do.”

On the quay of Rotterdam Fruit Wharf in the Merwehaven, the pallets of fruit are unloaded from the reefers on the ship directly into one of the cold stores. Once the containers have been unloaded from the deck, work can immediately start on unloading the pallets of fruit in the ship’s holds. All the fruit passes directly from the quay into the cold store to keep the cold chain as closed as possible.

Besides providing this special conventional service, Rotterdam Fruit Wharf also receives daily shipments of fruit containers from the regular Rotterdam container terminals. These containers are unloaded into one of the cold stores, where the fruit is kept at the correct temperature until it makes its way to a destination in Europe and perhaps even beyond.

Rotterdam Fruit Wharf

Rotterdam Fruit Warf is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. While a lot of fruit disappeared to the south, the company has remained loyal to the north bank of the port of Rotterdam. Rotterdam Fruit Wharf is part of the SEA-invest Group and has terminals in Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam and Hamburg, and cold storage warehouses in Cape Town and Durban.

As part of its ongoing expansion efforts, Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT), today announced the delivery of its latest batch of Ship to Shore (STS) cranes.

Abu Dhabi Terminals is the Management Company and operator of Khalifa Port Container Terminal (KPCT), the region’s first semi-automated terminal and one of the most technically advanced.

The five new cranes each with a 73 metre reach, 52 metre height and a lifting capacity of 90 tonnes are integral to ambitious plans that aim to increase capacity at KPCT to 5 million TEU (twenty foot-equivalent units) by the end of 2020.

The STS cranes are among the largest in the world and will play a key role in ADT’s technologically advanced operational ecosystem at Khalifa Port, the flagship semi-automated deep-water port owned by Abu Dhabi Ports Group.

Captain Mohamad Juma Al Shamisi, Group CEO, Abu Dhabi Ports and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Terminals, said: “Thanks to the wise strategic guidance of the leadership’s Economic Vision 2030, Abu Dhabi Terminals at Khalifa Port is well positioned to complete its expansion in record time and ahead of schedule, validating our commitment to becoming one of the leading container terminal operators in the world.”

“As Abu Dhabi’s gateway to the world, Khalifa Port continues to surpass world-class performance benchmarks, and through its growth is playing a vital role in contributing to creating prosperity and opportunity for all those within the UAE.

“Offering world class levels of operational performance through continuous investment in our maritime assets and infrastructure enables Abu Dhabi to position its economy to reap the benefits of future non-oil growth for years to come.”

Ahmad Al Mutawa, Abu Dhabi Terminals CEO, said: “The purchase and delivery of these cranes demonstrates how continuous investment in our infrastructure and technology, helps us exceed customer expectations by constantly delivering the most efficient operational performance.

“Our current expansion project of Khalifa Port Container Terminal sets a new benchmark for container terminal expansion in the region, and ensures that ADT can continue to deliver world class levels of operational performance to our partners, customers and shareholders well into the future.”

ADT purchased the ultra-modern cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (ZMPC) in China. This milestone follows the recent arrival of a batch of Automated Stacking Cranes which are also part of the expansion project, taking the total number of cranes at the terminal to 22.

The final phase of ADT expansion will see the Terminal linked to the Etihad Rail network providing direct rail connections across the UAE and regionally.

The 1.6 billion expansion at Abu Dhabi Terminals is part of AED 4 billion development projects underway at Khalifa Port including an AED 2.2 billion development of its South Quay and Khalifa Port Logistics which will expand overall capacity and boost container capacity to 9 million TEUs over the next 5 years.