The first of these was developed in collaboration with St James Stevedoring at the Port of Louisiana, on the Mississippi. The 63t capacity Gottwald HPK 330 EG can shift 900t/hr. Klein says, “The advantage of floating cranes is that you have a proven superstructure on a pontoon base. The floating cranes can work where there is quay congestion or a lack of quay capacity. It’s expensive and time consuming for customers to get permission and to build new quays, so floating cranes can allow them to meet excess demand more quickly than if they built new quays.
“They’re also used where there are no quays. In Mississippi, there are no quays. Instead, cargo is transferred ship-to-ship. The bigger ships come into the mouth of the river, and the floating cranes are used to transfer cargo to smaller ships and barges, which transport it on.”
Rietlanden Stevedoring has also purchased one of Gottwald’s floating HMCs, for use in the Port of Amsterdam, a G HPK 8200B. Managing director Henk Dames says “As well as the new Gottwald crane, we already have three other floating cranes from the Dutch manufacturer Figee. We use the pontoon cranes to unload seagoing cape size ships to coast-going vessels. These are all carrying bulk cargo. We need to lighten the vessels before entering the harbour, as the draught is too deep.”
