DP World Southampton Reaches New Heights as New Cranes Become Operational

The latest addition to DP World Southampton’s crane fleet became operational and serviced their first containership on Sunday 14 June 2009.

The two new super post-panamax cranes, each with an outreach of 22 containers wide, worked alongside their sister cranes (commissioned in July 2008) to service the 11,040 TEU CMA CGM Vela.  

During the vessel’s visit, the cranes worked to exchange over 2,700 containers.

Talking about the new cranes, Campbell Mason, Managing Director, DP World Southampton, said:

“It is an exciting development for the terminal to have four super post-panamax cranes in operation and to see them all servicing one of today’s mega-vessels. The crane commissioning represents the latest phase of a planned multi-million pound investment programme to ensure that the terminal meets the ongoing industry trend toward larger vessels.  With four super post-panamax cranes we have the capability to handle the widest ships in operation today and are well prepared to meet the growing needs of our customers.”

The cranes were built by Liebherr Container Cranes and were assembled at the terminal after sections were shipped in from Ireland and Germany in March. They were moved to the quayside in early June for final testing prior to full operational deployment.

Please click the following link to access a brief animation on the cranes' arrival, construction, relocation and first operations:

Super Post-Panamax Cranes Operational