OREANDA-NEWS. August 03, 2009. A new Post-Panamax ship-to-shore (STS) container crane produced by Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. was put into operation at NUTEP terminal (a joint venture of NCC and the Delo group).

This is the first STS container crane by the Ireland based LIEBHERR company ever shipped to Russia. The new STS design ensures protection against wind and seismic activity typical for the Novorossiysk harbour. The lattice frame construction of the boom, for instance, secures greater wind endurance of the crane and results in lower loads on the gantry rails.

The crane was delivered to NUTEP in May as large unassembled prefabricated units and was erected at the terminal yard and transported to the berth in record-short time.

The new LIEBHERR STS has an outreach of 46 m allowing it to handle vessels with up to 16 container rows across deck. The crane’s rail span is 15.24 m, safe working load is 50 t under spreader and theoretical productivity is 40-45 moves per hour.

"Today NUTEP puts into operation the first STS by Liebherr ever delivered to Russia. And we hope this will be the beginning of effective cooperation between our companies, - noted Evgeny Yuzhilin, NCC Vice President on terminal development, – We expect to receive two Liebherr RMG cranes soon for Ust-Luga Container Terminal".

Besides, in August 2009 four cable reel RTGs by Konecranes delivered to the terminal this spring will become operational. The cranes with lifting capacity of 50 t have the height of 1 over 5, and are 7+1 wide.

The new cable reel RTG cranes reduce environmentally harmful emissions by 95 percent as they run on electricity from the grid, which is a breakthrough in terms of green technologies. Modular cable reel construction provides for subsequent switching to the twin-lift technology.

Putting the new equipment into operation will increase the terminal’s annual capacity up to 215,000 TEU and considerably add to the terminal’s operational efficiency.

The above equipment was delivered as part of NUTEP’s 2007-2014 expansion and development program. It envisages steady equipment replacement as well as yard reconstruction and berth extension that altogether will boost the terminal’s capacity up to 500,000 TEU per annum by 2014.