Building large cranes needs a large factory – and few cranes are larger than the ship to shore cranes built by Liebherr Container Cranes in Killarney, Ireland. The biggest of these will load and offload super post panamax container vessels. An eye on the future and the continuation of this trend, combined with increased demand, has meant factory expansion for Liebherr. Phase one of the programme, completed earlier this year, has increased the production area by 12,500m2 to a total 40,000m2. The $13m development includes 22 new Demag EOT cranes. Seven new production halls each have between one and 12 cranes with lifting capacities ranging from 1.6t to 80t.
More than half the cranes are in the final assembly hall, the largest of which are two 35m-span double girder cranes, each with 80t main hoists and 10t auxiliary trolleys. Also sharing the runway is a 20t capacity double girder crane. Secondary cranes include six wall mounted travelling jib cranes, each rated at 5t, and three wall mounted 1.6t capacity slewing jib cranes of 8m radius.
The paint shop has three cranes, largest of which is a 54m span double girder with two 80t trolleys and two 10t auxiliary hoists. There are also two secondary 5t cranes. In the grinding hall there are two 13.5m span, 40t capacity double girder cranes, one of which also has a 10t auxiliary hoist. Two cranes also feature in the shot blasting hall and they both span the 11m width of the building. One has an 80t main hoist and a 10t auxiliary, and the other is rated at 25t.
The spray booth crane, inside the main paint shop above the drying oven, spans 20m and has a 10t SWL. Each of the remaining two halls have one crane, in the stores a 20m span 10t SWL single girder crane, and in the filter room, a 5t capacity crane also spanning 20m.
Liebherr Container Cranes is a subsidiary of the family-owned Swiss conglomerate Liebherr-International AG, which makes construction machinery and cranes of all kinds in factories all over ther world. Another company in the group that is expanding is Germany-based mobile crane manufacturer Liebherr-Werk Ehingen. At the Ehingen factory, Liebherr is building a new production hall covering 37,000m2 and due to go into full operation early next year.
Six Abus double girder EOT cranes have so far been installed, with four at 20t safe working load and two at 10t. By the end of the year a total of 24 overhead cranes will be in the new production hall, ranging form 10t to 40t. A further 65 smaller cranes, from 250kg to 4t safe working load, are being installed for lesser loads and as general handling aids. All the equipment here is supplied by Abus.
