New German container port receives cranes

   Chinese crane manufacturer ZPMC on Monday delivered the first four container cranes for the new terminal under construction at the German port of Wilhelmshaven, according to terminal operator Eurogate.
   The cranes took two months to reach the North Sea port from Shanghai.
   The super post-Panamax cranes can stretch across 25 rows of containers on deck, bigger than any vessel yet on the market. The largest container vessel in operation now is 15,550 TEUs and stretches 22 rows.
   Eurogate said the cranes will be carefully brought ashore one by one during the coming weeks, connected to a power supply and made ready for trial operation.
   The Port of Wilhelmshaven is Germany’s only deepwater port. Located on the River Jade near open water, it has 18 meters of draft. Until now, it has served as base for the German Navy and as a bulk oil port. The Eurogate Terminal is planned as a transshipment facility for feeder services to Scandinavia, the Baltic and Russia and as an alternative to Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre for shipments from the Rhine/Ruhr region. Eurogate’s intermodal business will connect the port by rail to the industrial heartland of Europe.
   When the 350-million-euro ($461-million) terminal is completed it will have 16 of the giant cranes to load and unload vessels.
   The first berth at Port Wilhelmshaven is expected to enter operation this August with eight cranes.
   Eurogate, which is present in multiple European ports, will operate Wilhelmshaven under a joint venture with APM Terminals. — Eric Kulisch