Arriving fully assembled from Liebherr in Rostock, Germany, the crane rolled off the heavy carrier vessel MERI at Riverside Quay this morning.
The £3.5 million crane is fully mobile and will be used in handling bulk and conventional cargoes such as coal, grain, wood pellet and recycled metals with the added flexibility of being able to accommodate project cargo – special outsize equipment for subsea and offshore.
The LHM 550 crane is designed for versatile cargo handling with a maximum lift capacity of 144 tonnes and a radius of 54 metres.
This latest investment brings the total number of cranes to 5 harbour mobiles, 2 portal cranes and 2 container gantry cranes for handling cargoes for some of the UK’s leading manufacturers, retailers and energy providers.
Steven Harrison, Port of Tyne Chief Operating Officer , said: “This is another major investment in port infrastructure and will significantly improve the efficiency of our cargo operations.”
The new crane is 70% larger than the Port’s existing Harbour Mobiles and 30% more efficient, with a handling capacity of approximately 2,000 tonnes of bulk material per hour.
The new crane will be commissioned later this week and is expected to be fully operational within two weeks (16 December).
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Port of Tyne, December 4, 2013