Four musketeers for Le Havre
The managers of the largest ongoing terminal-building project in France’s ports think in superlatives. To enable the Port 2000 facility to handle the latest generation of ULCVs it has been equipped with four Chinese gantry cranes weighing 2,100 t each.
At the end of August four new gantry cranes from China arrived in the port of Le Havre, which is the French container gateway with the largest volume of international trade and a part of the Haropa Ports alliance. The four big lifters, the largest of their kind, have been earmarked for action in the Port 2000’s France Terminal, which has been designed to handle containerships of any size.
The operator GMP-Port Synergy is currently building the Port 2000 facility on a 420,000 m² compound, adding another 700 m of quay. The cranes will be installed by October on the extended quay, with the new terminal due to be completely operational by 2024. The cranes GMP ordered from China were delivered to France by the heavylift vessel Zhen Hua 27. Each unit weighs about 2,100 t, can lift boxes 54 m under the spreader, reach across 26 rows of boxes and lift two feu simultaneously.
Provisional tracks, special hoists
Provisional tracks were laid to unload the units, with special hoists deployed to position them precisely at the site. GMP-Port Synergy managing director Louis Jonquière pointed out that “the lifting power of these gantry cranes will enable us to handle the largest ULCVs playing their trade today – they can carry 24,000 teu – as well as those on global shipbuilders’ drawing boards.”
