two giant cranes purchased by Port Operations Canary Islands SA (Opcsa) inside Chinese to revolutionize stowage in your port Palm they are on their way. After approval by the company in a final test last July, a ship specializing in heavy transport and large structures set out from Shanghai with machinery to bring it to Shanghai. Canary Islands and land it in the capital of Gran Canaria.
two MalaccaMax they will reach port According to the transportation plan prepared by Las Palmas, on September 22 Opcsa and Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. (Zpmc)is the world’s largest manufacturer of cranes and steel structures.
Because of this reason opsa It chose the Chinese group to manufacture the structures, which cost 20m euros. Technicians and operators zpmc They have been shaping these models since August last year. MalaccaMaxDue to their size and high capacity, they are the largest cranes on the market. For this reason, they are popularly referred to as ‘mega cranes’.
Leap in capacity and performance
MalaccaMax excels in performance. post PanamaxWhich ones are installed? Palm and most common in Spanish ports, with the few terminals and stowage operators making this qualitative leap.
It features a height of 141 meters with the boom retracted, a reach of 73 meters and a free height of 54 meters from the dock. In ship operations where the boom is straight, the height drops to 85 meters. This The maximum capacity of these machines is 65 tons per operation.It allows you to move two containers at the same time in one move.
The performance therefore almost doubles the performance of a conventional crane at forty movements per hour. This will increase the stacking capacity. Las Palmas HarborThanks to this new infrastructure, it will be able to take the world’s largest container ships.
Changxing Factory
zpmc He built the MalaccaMax at his factory in Changxing, an island located nearby. Shanghai. Creating and assembling these enormous steel structures was no easy task. First, the metal elements of the portal, the jib and the counter jib are mounted separately. All parts are then put together, and when the gantry is complete, the jib and counter jib are lifted to make the final assembly in the air.
Loading cranes and organizing their transport is another important process, because each of the structures weighs more than 1,000. 1,500 tons. A demanding protocol must be followed. security and coordinationbarges for transport, special ‘boogie’ type boxes to transport them and ramps to raise or lower them from the ship to the dock, all using elevations and counterweights to properly move them along the rails.
It is also important to run the operation with the right tide and little wind. A team from zpmc will be responsible for this task, he explains. javier zuritaboss OPCSA projectsis the person who oversees the entire manufacturing and acceptance process of cranes.
Christopher Columbus Pier
This Chinese engineers and operators they won’t just care about landing until they put the cranes on the dock rails Christopher Columbus, but they will assist Opcsa in operating the machines and training the workers to use them. The goal is to be operational before the end of the year to replace the old one. Post Panamax, one of them is already deprecated.
private transport ship Zpmc sailed from Shanghai It was loaded with four MalaccaMax at the end of last week: two purchased by Opcsa remain in Las Palmas and the other two will remain so far. TangierA port where Morocco also has such machines maersk.
cranes Moroccan rival They have double trolleys and are about 2,500 tons heavier, but have the same work capacity per ship line to load and unload containers. Therefore, they seem larger and more robust due to the double carrier.
Morocco
Go four MalaccaMax mounted and fixed to the ship by welding.a system known as ‘sea link’Its purpose is to provide transportation by sea. The Zpmc vessel is scheduled to arrive in Las Palmas on September 22 after arriving in the Canary Islands, cruising the China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the West African coast. It will then continue to Tangier to lower the other two cranes in Morocco.
MalaccaMax replaces Post-Panamax operating in the port, but opsa It is more powerful to renovate the container terminal with the Port Authority. It is worth 42 million in total and is of strategic nature in order to increase operational capacity and serve larger ships. ‘MSC Gulsun’from the shipping company Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC)A ship 400 meters long and 61.5 meters wide, with a carrying capacity of up to 23,700 TEU.
The company also acquired ten tractor heads, ten plates, six yard cranes, two vacuum carriers and a ReachStacker (container lift).