A vessel bearing five ‘mega-max’ cranes arrived in Liverpool earlier this month destined for the city’s new deep-water port.
The massive red cranes were built in Shanghai and transported more than 18,000 miles to their new home. They were made by Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co, the largest heavy-duty equipment manufacturer in the world, as part of a contract with Peel Ports worth more than £100 million.
A total of eight ship-to-shore mega-max cranes and 22 cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes are being supplied to Peel Ports as part of its investment programme to expand and develop the Port of Liverpool. Each crane is 92m high, extending to 132m when the boom is raised. They each weigh around 1,600 tonnes. The Liverpool-2 (L2) terminal will be the UK’s largest transatlantic deep-sea port, and the investment in facilities will allow it to accommodate most current container vessels.
Mark Whitworth, chief executive of Peel Ports (
www.peelports.com), said: “This is a truly unique day in Liverpool’s long maritime history. The spectacular sight of these cranes sailing up the Mersey to the L2 site is unprecedented. Our investment in leading-edge infrastructure and technology will allow Liverpool to offer the quickest and most cost-effective route to market, not just for goods destined for the north of England, but also for Scotland, Ireland and North Wales.”