Tanger Alliance at the TC3 terminal in Tanger Med in Morocco has received the remaining two of an eight Liebherr ship to shore container crane order, with the final crane entering service in April 2021 and bringing the operational capacity of the new terminal to over 1.5 million TEU per annum.
The cranes, which are the first Liebherr STS at Tanger Med, were erected at a remote site in Cadiz, Spain before being shipped two at a time to Morocco. The first cranes were commissioned in October 2020, with four more following in quick succession, allowing the terminal to open for business in January 2021 with six STS cranes.
The cranes were designed and manufactured by Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. in Ireland and they have an outreach of 72m, a lift height over rail of 54m, a span of 30.48m and a backreach of 22m.
Safe Working Load under the twin-lift spreaders is 65 tonnes, while the ultra large STS cranes are future-proofed as they can cater for vessels with up to 26 rows stowed across the deck and include fibre optic cores in the cabling, fault monitoring and remote diagnostics. Safety features including laser and ultrasonic anti-collision systems as well as smart slowdowns are installed as standard, according to an announcement.
Liebherr Container Cranes contracted ALE Heavylift Madrid (later Mammoet) to assist with the assembly and transportation of the cranes. The cranes were ordered between March and November 2019, with delivery scheduled to take place between 2020 and 2021.
The Covid-19 pandemic with its global lockdown and strict restrictions necessitated an agile approach to site assembly in Cadiz and commissioning in Tangier. Utilising local support, Mammoet’s personnel and experienced Liebherr engineers, the project was able to proceed with minimal interruption, according to Liebherr’s statement.
The cranes bring to twelve, the number of Liebherr STS cranes in Morocco with four cranes already in operation in Casablanca.
Tanger Alliance container terminal is a global transhipment hub and gateway for direct import and export volumes. With a quay length of 800m, a terminal area of 360,000m², a water depth of 18m and a handling capacity is 1.5 million TEU, Tanger Alliance can operate on the newest and largest container ships, offering high productivity and 24/7 operations all year round. Tanger Alliance is a partnership consisting of Marsa Moroc, Eurogate & Contship Italia and Hapag-Lloyd.
