Hamburg: Container Terminal Burchardkai ready for 18,000-TEU ships

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) inaugurated the berth 5/6 at its Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB). State-of-the-art container gantry cranes make it possible to handle ships with a capacity of 18,000 standard containers (TEU) there. The CTB is thus prepared for the latest generation of mega-ships. Stefan Behn, member of the Executive Board
of HHLA and responsible for the Container segment, emphasises the importance of the new berth: “With the new berth 5/6, we are able to handle the world’s largest container ships quickly and efficiently.

 The increase in handling capacity helps us to manage the peak loads caused by the ever-growing number of increasingly larger ships. Our customers can therefore also even better keep the container mega-ships on their tight schedules. The development of ships’ sizes confirmes our timely decision to rebuild the Container Terminal Burchardkai without interrupting normal operations, thus gradually increasing its capacity to over five million standard containers and making sure it is in the best-possible condition for the future.

The new berth is a central component of this project, which underpins HHLA’s claim to technological leadership”. Berth 5/6 is equipped with five of the most modern tandem container gantry cranes in the world. The new gantry cranes, from the Chinese manufacturer ZPMC, are designed for container ships with 24 transverse container rows. Thanks to their 74-metre jibs, they are very well equipped to handle the 23 container rows of 18,000-TEU ships.

The new cranes can also operate in tandem mode. One hub makes it possible to move two 40-foot containers or four 20-foot containers. Each gantry crane weighs 2,400 tonnes and can handle a maximum payload of 110 tonnes. Berth 5/6 is 595 metres long. A total of more than 1,400 metres of quay and 15 container gantry cranes are available at CTB’s port of Waltershof to handle the mega-ships.

The new quay walls have a load-bearing capacity of approximately 1,000 kilonewtons. Each container gantry crane weighs 2,400 tonnes. To build them, approximately 280,000 m3 of sand were rinsed and a 22-metre-wide stem was built. Total capital expenditure amounted to € 85.5 million.