At 11 p.m. on the evening of Monday 4 May, two new container gantry cranes arrived at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB). With its total of five new container gantry cranes – the first three of the same type were delivered at the beginning of November 2019 – HHLA provides an additional mega-ship berth for the Port of Hamburg at Burchardkai.

The two state-of-the-art container gantry cranes arrived at their temporary berth at Athabaskakai on board the “Zhen Hua 26”. Preparations for the complex discharging process will take place there before the special ship shifts to their final location at berth 6 in the Waltershofer Hafen.

The new container gantry cranes will provide HHLA with additional capacities for handling ultra large container vessels with a transport capacity of 24,000 standard containers (TEU) and more. In the last few years, the number of calls by ultra large container vessels in Hamburg has considerably increased.

“With the new container gantry cranes, we will ensure that our customers continue to receive the high quality of handling they’re accustomed to in the future. We are thus making an important contribution to the supply of both the population and the companies with goods and commodities. At the same time, the competitiveness and attractiveness of the Port of Hamburg will be strengthened in conjunction with the fairway adjustment of the river Elbe,” says HHLA Executive Board member Jens Hansen.

The currently largest container gantry cranes at the Port of Hamburg can accommodate ships with a width of 24 containers side by side. The jibs of the new cranes are nearly 80 metres long and can reach across 26 rows of containers. The new gantry cranes manufactured by ZPMC will replace smaller units at CTB. Including the new arrivals, more than 30 container gantry cranes are in use at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai. 18 of these are mega-ship cranes.

Burchardkai is both the oldest and the largest container handling facility at the Port of Hamburg. The first container ship in Hamburg was handled here in 1968. It had a capacity of just 1,200 TEU. Today, the biggest container ships in the world are handled at Burchardkai. After the five new container gantry cranes have started operation, the number of mega-ship berths at CTB will increase from two to three. HHLA also has another mega-ship berth in the Port of Hamburg at Container Terminal Tollerort.