New Kiel Canal port gathers pace

The new RWL 150 ton capacity Gottwald unit is the first of two cranes planned for the facility, being built by the Bunte construction group in Osterrönnfeld half way along the 100 km Canal between Kiel on the Baltic and Brunsbüttel on the Elbe (North Sea). The second, of 100 ton capacity, was set for operation last month. Both have 26m outreach and lift 250 tons in tandem.

The port said it also planned Reachstackers, Tugmasters, and 32 tonne heavy-lift fork lifts over the course of time at the 22,000 m2 facility, which is on 9.5m of water.

The first project with ENERCON will get off the ground by November when two to three ship loads a week are expected, but trial operation has already taken place. Two inland ships, Lea and Eider,delivered one tower each from the company’s production plant in Magdeburg on the Elbe.

The towers are 107m long and weigh 930 tonnes each. Their concrete rings make up 32 sections, each weighing 25 to 45 tonnes. They will be offloaded in Osterrönfeld and stored on the 300m quayside of the 80 hectare site. They will later be trucked to the coastal onshore wind park in Flensburg-Handewitt.

Rendsburg Port is operated by a consortium of two medium sized local but regionally active concerns, both of which are directly affected by the fortunes of the Kiel Canal. They are the shipping and logistics company Ahlmann-Zerssen in Rendsburg and Brunsbüttel Ports, the firm that owns and operates the port and locks at Brunsbüttel.

Now hoping for further business with ENERCON are the managing directors of those two companies, John Herzberg and Frank Schnabel. They said handling for ENERCON was “the perfect start” for the new port. “We have the equipment to do the job, the space, and are at home with project loads.”

By Tom Todd