The Port of Tyne is preparing for the arrival of a second gantry crane for its Container Terminal at Tyne Dock in South Shields.
The crane is due to arrive by ship on Tuesday (25 June). Coming ‘flat packed’, the £6m, 750-tonnes structure will be assembled piece by piece and is expected to be operational by mid-August.
The existing gantry crane has been working hard since the Container Terminal first opened 22 years ago and has seen growth in the Logistics operations to record levels in that time.
“We are adding a second gantry crane to provide increased resilience in our operations and improve productivity and efficiency to better meet our customers’ needs,” said Andrew Moffat, Port of Tyne Chief Executive Officer.
“It will put us in a much stronger position to gain new business and achieve our growth plans and whilst it predominantly will be used for containers, it will also be able to be used for bulk cargoes.”
The new crane will enable the Port of Tyne to handle 98% of the world’s global fleet of short sea container vessels.
It is the equivalent weight of 107 double decker buses and once fully built will be a new landmark on Tyneside, towering alongside the port’s ten other cranes.
At its full height of 70m the crane will be higher than the 20m high Angel of the North and higher still than the 59m height of the Tyne Bridge.
Built by specialists Liebherr in Ireland, the crane has a capacity of 37 metres outreach that can handle containers 13 across the deck of a vessel and will increase productivity by 25% providing additional flexibility.
Many of the UK’s top blue chip companies already recognise the Port’s excellent global connections. Household names such as Nissan, Tetley Tea, Ringtons, Co-op, JML and Tommee Tippee are already customers served by the Port’s container terminal. And as well as importing goods from around the world, the Port’s container terminal exports an increasing amount of recyclables including waste paper.
“Last year the Port of Tyne’s contribution to the economy of the North East was valued at £0.5 billion, supporting 10,000 jobs. This major investment in a second gantry crane will further benefit our customers and support new businesses importing or exporting in the manufacturing, retail and energy sectors,” added Andrew Moffat.
The cargo vessel MV Copenhagen has travelled 1,812 nautical miles picking up parts from Liebherr in Rostock, Germany and Fenit, Ireland – once berthed the ship will unload 124 sections of crane over an estimated two days. Then a specialist team of contractors from Liebherr will construct the crane over an eight week period.
