Port of Riga put its new 100m high and 790 tonne container crane into operation on 25 August, unloading the first boxes from a COSCO container vessel.
The new unit was commissioned in a ceremony at the Baltic port company’s Baltic Container Terminal (BCT).
The new crane, which was made in China by SANY Marine Heavy Industry, has a lifting capacity of up to 40 tonnes and a lifting speed of 1m per second. Additionally, its 47m boom length can service container ships of up to 15 container rows across the overall breadth of the vessel.
This means that this crane, unlike smaller ones at the port, is able to handle containers on board vessels of the required width, eliminating the need to move the ship at the berth during loading, providing much faster cargo handling.
The crane’s lifting capacity provides handling of any type of container, while, like all other Baltic Container Terminal STS cranes, it is equipped with the Quay Crane Automation System, a solution that fosters an increase in the vessel loading efficiency, as well as ensures work safety in the berth area.
Moreover, it has a lifting height of 48m, 34m above the berth, and 14m into the ship’s hold.
Ansis Zeltins, CEO of the Freeport of Riga has highlighted the importance of modern technologies and solutions for the improvement of the port’s competitiveness. “The example of the Baltic Container Terminal proves that modern technologies are one of the cornerstones of international competitiveness,” he noted.
The new 27m wide container crane was loaded onto a barge at the end of January this year and transported by water to the Latvian port, where it arrived in May. After the crane assembly, installation of systems and technologies, which was carried out with the participation of Chinese specialists, the crane has been commissioned and is now fully operational.
The new SANY crane is an important addition to the BCT container logistics system, which is already considered to be the most up-to-date in the Baltic States, according to a statement.
BCT has invested significant funds into smart terminal management and cargo movement automation technologies. Already in January of this year, BCT put into operation a modern warehouse for general cargo handling and storage with a total area of 11,700m2. The heated warehouse is equipped with energy-efficient LED lighting and a railway ramp, which provides direct access to each section of the warehouse.
“Our competitiveness is based on efficiency and productive capacity provided by a continuous process of innovation, investment in new technologies and modern equipment. The new container crane will further increase the efficiency of our terminal by providing faster and safer ship service,” commented Gerard Sammut, CEO of the BCT, at the opening of the new container crane.
BCT is the second largest terminal in the port of Riga in terms of cargo turnover. In the seven months of 2020, the the terminal handled 65% of all containers and 9% of all sea-borne freight in the port. In the first seven months of this year, the terminal had already handled 179,037TEU or 1.8 million tonnes of cargo.
Over the last ten years, the volume of container cargo in Riga has grown by an average of 7% per year, reaching a turnover of 4.9 million tonnes in 2019. In 6 months of this year, 2.123 million tonnes of container cargo were handled in the Latvian port.
