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They measure 57.4 meters high each and handle freighters with a width of up to 21 rows of containers
With an increasing operative demand resulting from of the use of ships of larger dimensions, Montecon -main port services operator in the public areas at the Port of Montevideo- decided to incorporate two mobile cranes able to handle large freighters with a width of up to 21 rows of containers.
Engineered to Montecon’s order and constructed by the Austrian / German company Liebherr Maritime Cranes, they are 57.4 meters high, which is equivalent to a 20 floors building, and they provide an eye level of 40 metres, which no mobile harbour crane ever provided.
The company Liebherr Maritime Crane is a world leader in manufacture of port cranes, both mobile and ship-to-shore, and it has a long term strategic association with Montecon.
The new units, whose assembly will end in the port of Montevideo, set off from the German Rostock port mid-July, after 18 months of designing and production. The LHM 800 cranes will perform a 13,000 kilometers trip and will transform the profile line of the capital port.
“The decision to request the design and building of these new port cranes was adopted as an answer to the needs of our clients. The ships are bigger and bigger and Montecon, main private operator at the public areas of the port of Montevideo, has the responsibility of getting ahead and adapting itself to the needs of the container market. In the year 2015 we ordered a giant mobile crane, but then we realized that a second was necessary to upgrade our service.
In the uncertain scenario of the Uruguayan economy, these new investments ratify once again our commitment with our clients, with our workpeople and with the Port of Montevideo”, told Juan Olascoaga, CEO of Montecon.
The company began its relationship with Liebherr fifteen years ago, incorporating the first mobile Panamax port crane Liebherr LHM 400, delivered in 2001. Since then, the association has developed, since Montecon maintained a constant investment criterion, aiming to improve its operative yield.
In 2012 and 2013, the company added up three LHM 600, the biggest of the world until now. During the tasks of building supervision of the team at the German base, together with the technical team of Liebherr, the idea of generating an even greater one arose, which ended up in an immediate request.
Leopold Berthold, director-general of Liebherr in Rostock, indicated that the incorporation of these two units of unique characteristics will improve the possibilities which the Port of Montevideo offers, turning it “very attractive for the shipping lines”.
