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£6m crane makes its way to Tyne

A 750-tonne, £6m crane will be delivered to the Port of Tyne this week, and is expected to be operational by mid-August.

The “flat-packed” structure will be assembled to replace the existing gantry crane which has been operating in the container terminal since its opening 22 years ago.

At the equivalent weight of 107 double decker buses the new landmark will stand 70m tall - higher than the 20m Angel of the North and higher than the 59m Tyne Bridge.

Unloading of the parts will take two days following the components’ journey from Rostock in Germany and Fenit in Ireland.

Port of Tyne chief executive officer, Andrew Moffat, said: “We are adding a second gantry crane to provide increased resilience in our operations and improve productivity and efficiency to better meet our customers’ needs.

“It will put us in a much stronger position to gain new business and achieve our growth plans and whilst it predominantly will be used for containers, it will also be able to be used for bulk cargoes.”

Irish specialists Liebherr built the crane which has capacity of 37 metres outreach that can handle containers 13 across the deck of a vessel and will increase productivity by 25%, the Port say.

Mr Moffat added: “Last year the Port of Tyne’s contribution to the economy of the North East was valued at £0.5 billion, supporting 10,000 jobs. This major investment in a second gantry crane will further benefit our customers and support new businesses importing or exporting in the manufacturing, retail and energy sectors.”

Specialist contractors from Leibherr will assemble the crane over the next eight weeks.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .