Strait talkin'

Istanbul, Turkey-headquartered heavy lifting and transportation services provider Hareket has successfully transported three brand-new Liebherr STS cranes (ship-to-shore port cranes) across the Bosphorus Strait. The Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, northwestern Turkey, that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe, and divides Turkey by separating Anatolia from Thrace. It is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation.

The brand-new Liebherr twin lift telescopic spreader cranes arrived at the port of Haydarpasa in parts having been shipped straight from the Liebherr factory in Ireland.

Hareket unloaded and assembled the cranes using two high-capacity crawler cranes. The heaviest part weighed 250 tonnes. Once assembled each crane weighed 2,150 tonnes and measured 90 metres high, 25 metres wide, and had double booms covering a breadth of 150 metres.

Then Hareket had to move the cranes across the strait to the port of Mardas.

Due to the size of the cranes, combined with the narrowness of the unloading port and the different dock heights of the two ports, Hareket determined the best course of action was to load, transport and load out the assembled STS cranes via the side of the barge, moving from the port to starboard side for load-in then load-out.

During each crossing the Strait was closed to traffic for five hours, in coordination with the Port Authority and Coastal Safety.

In total the turnkey project, involved 97 personnel, including a 12-person engineer team, a ten-person crane team, a 45-person crane team, and a 30-person heavy transportation, ballast and lashing team.

Hareket says the safe delivery of the cranes was, in large part, due to the detailed planning it conducted. The cranes will now be used at Mardas, one of Turkey's first private ports.