UK: Tilbury Container Terminal Reaches Important Milestone

London Container Terminal in Tilbury last week saw the first of its two panamax ship to shore cranes fully operational. The first of the two cranes boomed down onto the Samskip vessel, the Henrike Schepers, with her cargo of containers for the UK market.

Spanish company, Paceco Espana S.A., were awarded the contract for two cranes in 2013 which brings the number of Paceco ship to shore cranes at Tilbury to 10, six of which are from Paceco Espana. Tilbury has four post-panamax cranes, two built in 2001 and two built in 2004. The two new 13 box wide ship to shore cranes are now fully operational.

The Paceco cranes are designed and purpose built to handle feeder vessels. With a clearance of 17.0 metres between the legs, this enables efficient handling of 45ft containers. The crane is designed to handle heavy laden containers and can lift 40 tonnes under a single lift spreader. They are capable of lifting 57 tonnes under the headblock and 45 tonnes under a twin-lift spreader.

There are a number of state-of-the-art technology features fitted which makes the cranes very efficient including the latest electronic controls with fault finding diagnostics; anti-collision systems; and are equipped with overload and weighing systems.

In addition to the two Paceco ship-to-shore cranes, LCT have also recently invested in a Liebherr 550 mobile crane, 14 new Kalmar straddle carrier, a single reception gate covering both security and container processing, new cranes, a bespoke ICT system and surfacing work. Forth Ports’ investment program at London Container Terminal comes to around £20million in total.

The investment program has been aided by the Motorway of the Sea grant, awarded to the Port of Tilbury and Port of Bilbao in 2012. The grant is for the “IBUK – Intermodal Corridor” project, which aims to reduce congestion between the Iberian Peninsula and the UK by moving trucks off the road and onto a more efficient multi-modal logistics corridor.

The British and Spanish ports have been collaborating since 2009 to receive funding for the project through the EU’s Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) program. The Port of Tilbury is the first port in the UK to receive funding from the TEN-T program.

[mappress]

Press Release, June 23, 2014