Marine works facilitate Southampton terminal upgrade
DP World Southampton is upgrading its shipside capabilities by deepening its container berths and purchasing further ship to shore cranes. It’s a much needed addition to the port’s capabilities, as vessels continue their relentless increase in size.
Once the dredging works are completed later this year the depth for berths 205, 206 and 207 will be 14.0m, 14.6m and 15m respectively. These deeper berths will provide greater flexibility for vessels calling at Southampton, with nearly 80% of the terminal’s quay providing a minimum depth of 14.0m alongside.
In addition to the dredging works, DP World Southampton has placed an order with Liebherr for two additional super post-panamax cranes to upgrade the terminal’s crane fleet. These new cranes will mean that half of the terminal’s crane fleet are of super post-panamax design.
This pair of 22 container outreach cranes join the original four purchased in the last two years, which, as a set, significantly up capacity at Southampton. However, since the Liebherr cranes are of a different size and gauge to those originally placed on the dockside, foundations for the post-panamax crane beams have been provided by the installation of 178 piles 25 metres in length, with each pile having a design vertical load capacity of some 200 tons. The piling supports a buried beam which measures 2m wide and 1.5m high.
This main part of the project was completed over a two year period between 2008 and 2009, although the extension of the terminal’s third crane rail (which will allow the super post-panamax cranes to operate on most of the terminal’s quay) was only completed at the beginning of April. The new rails mean in total an additional 195m of reinforced concrete crane beam, allowing the third crane rail to be extended to a total length of 695m.
It is anticipated that both cranes will be delivered to the terminal during the first quarter of 2011.
Talking about the deeper berths and new cranes, Chris Lewis, DP World Southampton’s managing director said, ‘The terminal continues to meet the ongoing industry trend towards larger containerships through providing deeper berths and upgrading our crane fleet with super post-panamax cranes which have enhanced operational capability and technology.
‘Deep water berths coupled with the commissioning of two more super post-panamax cranes are two exciting developments for the terminal and will mean that we have the capability of servicing some of the widest and deepest drafted container ships in operation in a highly efficient and productive way.’
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