A gentle giant in Rostock
The cranes needed for heavylift operations are growing ever taller. At its Rostock production site Liebherr recently inaugurated its new TCC 78000 unit, designed to handle its own cranes. It will transfer units between the production plant and the quay there – and operate on unusual tracks.
A quartet of VIPs was called up to inaugurate Liebherr’s new heavylift crane at its Rostock plant recently. It included Christian Pegel, the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s minister for energy; his colleague, economics minister Harry Glawe; and Stefanie Wohlfahrt and Patricia Rüf, representing the Liebherr family. Together they pressed the starting button for the symbolic commencement of the crane’s operations.
The VIPs were called up to underline the TCC 78000’s superlatives, which would do any crane-maker proud. The travelling cargo crane (TCC), in which Liebherr has invested around EUR 45 million, weighs 5,500 t and stands 164 m tall. The gantry crane that operates in Liebherr’s factory premises in the port of Rostock can lift payloads of up to 1,600 t approximately 120 m above the quays. The dignitaries present hoped that “the crane will always have a load to carry.”
The unit’s first practical deployment will not be long coming. At the end of 2019 the TCC 78000 will transfer an HLC 29500 to a special ship, the Orion, at 6 m per minute. The HLC 29500 is an offshore crane designed to lift heavy loads to a height of 180 m.
It’s all in the chassis
Preparation was key in the TCC 78000 project. Leopold Berthold, the managing director of the firm Liebherr-MCCtec Rostock, explained that, to ensure that the Rostock factory compound can support the crane with its double running gear and 30 m track width, it had to be reinforced with 600 monopiles. “The unit can also serve to the quay on a 420 m curved route, an exceptional characteristic for a portal crane,” he added. A new era has thus been inaugurated for Liebherr’s heavylift handling activities in Rostock.
