Terminal Velocity

Ports around the world are buying new container cranes in large numbers, both to handle changing patterns of world trade and to reach over new, wider, container vessels. When they do, their existing cranage often needs to be reorganized to make the most efficient use of their new cranes. Moving these giant pieces of equipment poses a considerable challenge, particularly as the busy port environment doesn’t allow for any down time.

Malta Freeport was established in the late 1980s. The Maltese archipelago sits in the middle of the Mediterranean, and the port has quickly become a major transhipment hub, where the cargo of oceangoing ships is loaded onto smaller vessels for delivery to shallower harbours around the Mediterranean. The port is operated by French company CMA CGM, the world’s third largest ports specialist, under a concession from the Maltese government. Since 2004, the company has been working to increase the capacity of the port, with a target of handling three million TEUs a year. Dredging works are being carried out around the port, with the aim of allowing ships with draughts up to 16m to dock at the port. CMA CGM is also investing in new cranes.

The company planned to have 23 cranes operational by this August. As part of the development, three giant ZPMC ship-to-shore cranes would need to be moved around the port. The port company entrusted the job of moving the 1,900t cranes to Global Rigging and Transport (GRT), a Virginia, USA port movement specialist.

GRT general manager Tommy Felch, explains why the company got the job: “We specialise in moving and modifying container cranes and other large marine equipment. This year, we’ve had jobs in Buenos Aires, Brazil and South Asia. Malta was the first job we’ve had in Europe. We’d worked with the engineering manager at Malta Freeport on moves at other ports. He knew this wasn’t an ordinary job, and asked us to do it.”

The problem at a port like Malta is that space, both landside and at the dock, is continually in use. Port operators don’t want to stop work for any longer than is absolutely necessary. Felch says, “Malta is a very busy terminal. Only three or four per cent of the containers there go out of the terminal: the rest is transhipment, from big ships to smaller vessels taking cargo on into the rest of Europe. We had to limit disruption to the port.

“We couldn’t use barges. That would have been easiest, as we could go straight to where the crane was needed, but would have blocked the dock. The move needed to be land- based. The whole terminal is covered with containers, stacked everywhere. We moved containers to make a route through, but the cranes would still need to be able to corner tightly.

“You could jack the crane up, and add beams and dollies, but that shuts the port down for a long time and they wanted to get the job done quickly.

“That’s why we developed the containerised transport truss system. The truss transporter drives under its own power. The big 20t beams on each truss support the crane. The truss keeps all of the wheels in between the sill beams, at the front and back of the crane. It makes the crane manoeuvrable. A single beam big enough to take the bending force would need to be very big: something like 4m x 4m. The truss is designed to compress the smaller beam, and take the bending force of the dollies. It can lift and carry up to 2,000t.

“The entire system can be transported in eight containers. The truss is pinned together in a quiet area of the port and pulled by a tractor to the crane that needs moving: it is self powered, but the dollies aren’t as fast as the tractor. The truss stays assembled throughout the whole operation, and is just moved between cranes as needed.”

One of the ZPMC cranes moved by GRT weighed 1,900t and traveled 1,200m through the port, on a route consisting of four 90° corners through the heart of the port. Following a detailed route map, the truss and crane were transported using a group of self-powered and self-steering hydraulic dollies. The truss can also be rigged for transport using platform trailers, depending on which option is the most cost-effective. In this case, GRT completed the movement of all three cranes over a period of ten days, three days ahead of the projected schedule.

The primary function of the truss system is to reduce the time required for moving cranes within shipping terminals. GRT says that 95% of the preparation work involved can be performed in remote areas of the port so as not to interfere with normal port operations. Additionally, the crane set to be moved remains fully intact throughout the entire process. So from start to finish, a container crane can be moved within a shipping terminal in a period of 72 hours.

“We designed the truss ourselves, and had the design reviewed by an independent engineer,” Felch says. “We have a fabrication company we work with, the Riggins Company in Hampton, Virginia, who fabricated the truss for us. They’ve built a lot of equipment for us.

“The truss is designed to be used with cranes with a rail gauge of at least 30m. It could be adapted for smaller cranes, but cranes keep getting bigger and bigger. On smaller cranes, its easier to pick them up and manoeuvre them with existing equipment like beams and dollies. It was a big investment: I hope it’s not going to a ‘blue elephant’. We’ve already got one port operator in Panama who is interested.”