From Bilbao into the Caribbean
After some complicated manoeuvres, a fully erected crane was loaded onto a ship at the port of Bilbao (Spain). The equipment is bound for a container terminal in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea. The twelve hour loading operation was prepared and coordinated by forwarder Altius Group, shipping agent Marítima Dávila, and stevedoring company Toro y Betolaza in conjunction with the port authority of Bilbao.
The ship-to-shore container crane was designed by Pacheco and built and finally assembled by Kalmar. It weighs 1,280 t, is 68 m high and 27 m wide. It took sixteen months to assemble it, piece by piece, on dock A-3 in Bilbao's Outer Abra bay.
Self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT) were used to take the crane to the vessel, and it was lifted onto the ship with two onboard cranes. The Altius Group chose Big Lift Shipping’s "Happy Star" for the operation: the vessel is 156 m long and 29 m wide. (kd)