19.01.2023

New lift system for raising STS cranes

Liebherr Container Cranes has completed its first Ship To Shore crane lift height increase, its new ‘Liebherr Transform’ jacking system.

The project was conducted under the supervision of Liebherr engineers at Patrick Terminals – Brisbane AutoStrad, near Brisbane, Australia. Located on the eastern coast of Australia Brisbane AutoStrad is one of the world’s most advanced container terminals.

The terminal has two Liebherr ship to shore container cranes, one which is brand new and currently being commissioned, and one that was supplied in 2015. The 2015 crane has a lift height of 37.5 metres, but with larger vessels now calling at the port, it is unable to handle a growing number of them, so a height extension to 40 metres was required.
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The crane lift height is to be raised by 2.5 metres

Height extensions are nothing new for Liebherr, but last year it introduced a new, patented, jacking system for carrying out lift height extensions, which has had its first outing at the Brisbane terminal.

Designed and built at Liebherr Container Cranes in Ireland, it uses the crane’s end carriage as a solid base for jacking the crane structure, eliminating the requirement for additional lifting equipment. Furthermore, since the system uses the crane structure as a base for jacking, the loadings are low and are carried through the existing crane. The equipment shipped in is basically four large jacks within structural lifting frame and some cross bracing tubes.
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the lift is complete

Preparation for the actual lift takes a couple of weeks and the flexible system allows the crane to be jacked in is working location or moved away from the travel rails for jacking if and when required. The actual lift and the insertion of the extensions can be completed in a few hours, depending on the height of the extension, up to around 11 metres is possible.
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the inserts and lifting into place

The speed of the lift is particularly suited to terminals prone to sudden changes in weather and high winds. The entire process from arrival of the jacks to completion takes around four weeks from start to finish.

The following video shows exactly how the first project went.


Off to the next jon
As soon as the Brisbane job was completed, the jacking system was loaded into a container for shipment to New York, where the Port of New York and New Jersey GCT has four Liebherr ship to shore container cranes from 2004 with a lift height of 36.57 metres and an outreach of 50 metres. The Liebherr Transform equipment will help extend the lift height of the cranes by 8.6 metres and the outreach by five metres, allowing them to manage largest ships calling at the port and cover two bays.