NEW cranes which arrived by sea at Felixstowe port today stand ready for action on the quayside – and should be put to work very soon.Final checks are currently being made on the equipment – part of an £11 million plus order of new cranes for the container terminal – after their nine-week journey from China.

NEW cranes which arrived by sea at Felixstowe port today stand ready for action on the quayside – and should be put to work very soon.

Final checks are currently being made on the equipment – part of an £11 million plus order of new cranes for the container terminal – after their nine-week journey from China.

They are now part of what is a forever changing vista along the entrance to the River Orwell, not only in the number of ship-to-shore cranes but also the work being done to extend the deep-water quays at Trinity Terminal by 270 metres.

Portwatchers can look forward to more changes in the years ahead if the ambitious project to redevelop Landguard Terminal gets the go-ahead.

Ten new rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGCs), and one ship-to-shore gantry crane (SSGC), now standing at the end of Trinity, arrived at the port from Zhenhua Port Machinery Company of Shanghai.

Two more SSGCs are scheduled for delivery in September this year and early 2005. The port will then have of 88 RTGCs and 28 SSGCs.

Sea-bracings have been removed and the cranes are being checked and having minor adjustments made. Following full commissioning tests, it is anticipated that all cranes will be fully operational very soon.

The new quayside cranes will be amongst the largest in the port, capable of handling containers stowed 22-wide on vessels, and equipped with twin lift capability and heavy lift capacity of 85 tonnes.

The new RTGCs can lift one container over five, and straddle seven rows of containers, plus a roadway.

Richard Pearson, managing director of Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, said: "This new equipment will help increase UK port capacity at an important time.

"Together with the extension of Trinity Terminal, it will enable us to handle the future growth in essential import and export trade, and will secure the port's ability to compete commercially against other European ports."

The new equipment is part of a number of initiatives at the Port to improve productivity and customer service.

A crane-heightening programme has been in progress for some months, to enable some of the port's oldest quayside cranes to cope with the latest generation of container ships.

WEBLINK: www.portoffelixstowe.co.uk