Three additional remote-controlled container gantry cranes for CTA

The new container gantry cranes were manufactured by Liebherr and delivered partially assembled on board the special ship ZHONG REN 122 from Ireland to Hamburg. With a height of up to 120 metres in their upright position and a jib length of around 70 metres, they can perform handling operations for large container ships with a capacity of up to 16,000 standard containers (TEU).

The three new container gantry cranes will be unloaded at CTA in the coming days and will then gradually commence operating by the end of the year. They will complement three identical models that have already been successfully integrated into terminal operations. By 2030, all 14 container gantry cranes at CTA are to be gradually replaced by remote-controlled units.

Johannes Busenbach, Project Manager: “With the new remote-controlled container gantry cranes, we are taking another important step in the ongoing development of CTA. The commencement of operations with the first three gantry cranes afforded us valuable experience which we are now using to make the integration of the new gantry cranes even more efficient. At the same time, we are continuing to train our employees in the new remote-control processes and expanding this training to a larger group. In doing so, we are ensuring that the terminal remains productive and is in an optimal position for the future.”

The new container gantry cranes will be fully remote-controlled. To enable this, the existing container gantry crane operators have undergone extensive further training and will control the cranes from ergonomically optimised office workstations. New training programmes have also been developed for supervisors and lashers, as automation is changing the operational processes and work processes involved.

Thanks to automated loading and unloading processes and a state-of-the-art OCR system (Optical Character Recognition) that digitally records containers, the new container gantry cranes at CTA will enable faster handling processes and improved data integration into the terminal-wide systems.