Tanger Alliance at the TC3 terminal in Tanger Med in Morocco have received the final two of eight Liebherr STS cranes bringing operational annual capacity of the new terminal to over 1.5m teu.
The cranes, which are the first Liebherr STS at Tanger Med, were erected at a remote site in Cadiz, Spain before being shipped two at a time to Morocco. The first cranes were commissioned in October 2020, with four more following in quick succession, allowing the terminal to open for business in January 2021 with six STS cranes.
The cranes have an outreach of 72m, a lift height over rail of 54m, a span of 30.48 and a back reach of 22m. Safe Working Load under twin-lift spreader is 65 tonnes. The ultra large STS cranes are future-proofed as they can cater for vessels with up to 26 rows stowed across the deck and include fibre optic cores in the cabling, fault monitoring and remote diagnostics.
The cranes were ordered between March and November 2019, with delivery scheduled to take place during 2020 and 2021. The Covid pandemic with its global lockdown and strict restrictions necessitated an agile approach to site assembly in Cadiz and 2/4 commissioning in Tangier.
Utilising local support, Mammoet’s personnel and experienced Liebherr engineers, the project was able to proceed with minimal interruption.
The cranes bring to twelve, the number of Liebherr STS cranes in Morocco with 4 cranes already in operation in Casablanca.
“The handover of these cranes to Tanger Alliance is a key moment for the port. We look forward to seeing Tanger Alliance maximise the cranes potential,” said Gerry Bunyan, Global Sales and Marketing Manager for Liebherr Container Cranes
Tanger Alliance, a partnership of Marsa Moroc, Eurogate & Contship Italia and Hapag-Lloyd, is a global transhipment hub and gateway with a quay length of 800 m, a terminal area of 360,000 sq m, a water depth of 18m and a handling capacity is 1.5m teu.
Source: Seatrade Maritime
