Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. has secured a contract to provide the Port of Duqm in Oman with four ship to shore (STS) and twelve rubber tyre gantry (RTG) cranes. The order is expected to be delivered to the port in late 2022.
The Omani port has been designed to be a multimodal logistics hub with connections via road, rail and air, aiming to become one of the largest ports in the region. Its development is part of the ambitious SEZAD (Special Economic Zone of Authority at Duqm) greenfield project.
The new equipment is anticipated to help the port accomplish this ambition, as the cranes will allow the commercial gateway to handle the world’s largest container vessels. This will further expand its existing cargo and bulk services with container handling.
Regarding the STS cranes, they feature an outreach of 71 meters, a back reach of 18 meters and a lift height over rail of 50 meters, according to Liebherr, while they also have a safe working load of 65 tonnes under twinlift spreader.
Supplied without a cabin, the cranes will be operated by utilising a combination of remote control and automation with operator intervention only required when operating below a predefined safe height.
Each Liebherr STS will be connected to its own dedicated remote operator stations (ROS). The centrally located remote operation facility will also host four ROS for control of the twelve RTGs which will be cabinless, as well, and they feature automation over the stack with remote control only required for container pick or place from the truck trailers, or for exception handling, according to the German-Swiss equipment manufacturer.
Furthermore, the diesel powered RTGs can stack eight containers and a truck lane wide and one over six containers high, while data communications in the container yard will be handled by a mesh network.
This decentralised system sees multiple access points positioned throughout the yard, providing a high speed and stable data network, delivering the required latency and bandwidth communication which is necessary for remote control.
“These are also our first cabinless and automated cranes in the region and we look forward to seeing the cranes being deployed and playing the lead role in expanding the services offered by the Port,” said Gerry Bunyan, Managing Director for Sales at Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd.
He also noted that the company has for many years supplied STS and RTG cranes throughout the Middle East, but these will be the first Liebherr container cranes in Oman.
