Giant cranes have sailed into Gdansk. They are impressive!

    Adam Zys·
    ARCHITECTURE
    ·

    The giant cranes sailed to Gdansk from China for as long as two months. Thanks to these four giants, the Baltic Hub port of Gdansk will be able to handle the largest ships in the world, allowing it to compete with Europe’s most important ports. It is worth noting that the Gdańsk cranes are the largest of their kind in Europe. Each of the cranes weighs almost 2,000 tonnes – it is as if more than 1,300 elephants could be accommodated on board altogether. The 32-storey-high, 96-metre-long cranes will operate at the T3 terminal under construction, which is scheduled to open in mid-2025. At the port, the Zhen Hua 36 crane arrived several hours late. The reason for the delay was the dense morning fog, which impeded visibility.

    The giant Chinese ship, Zhen Hua 36, was due to pass the harbour heads at 11am on Sunday. As a result, it was able to carry out the operation several hours later, as the dense fog shrouding the Baltic Hub did not dissipate until 3pm that day. The arrival of the giant constructions aroused considerable interest among the residents of Gdańsk, who watched the event on the beach in Stogi.

    The STS (ship-to-shore) cranes that arrived at the Baltic Hub are capable of loading and unloading the largest ships in the world.
    – This is a unique day in the history of our company. We have not had such powerful cranes before. They are the largest of all those used in ports in Europe today,’ says Katarzyna Frankiewicz, spokesperson for Baltic Hub. – Besides, previously such equipment was transported to us in parts and was assembled on site. Now we have them in their entirety,” she adds.
    The four STS cranes were transported to Gdańsk by the Liberian-flagged vessel Zhen Hua 36, a 240.5-metre-long and 42.03-metre-wide vessel. It may take up to a week to unload and move the giant STS cranes to the T3 quay under construction. The unloading of the Zhen Hua 36 will begin on Monday, so there will be time to observe the process with the cranes on board.
    Before reaching Europe and Gdansk, it had to circumnavigate Africa from the south. This is because the shorter route via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal is still under threat from attacks by Yemeni Huti militants.
    – Each of the cranes will be slid from the ship’s deck onto the quay. We are facing a difficult and complicated process, requiring almost surgical precision,’ stresses Katarzyna Frankiewicz.

    Gdańsk cranes in numbers

    • weight: almost 2,000 tonnes
    • height: 96 metres (140 metres with the jib raised)
    • lifting capacity: up to 65 tonnes.

    More cranes will arrive in the spring

    In total, seven such large STS cranes will operate at the new T3 quay. The three others are expected to arrive at the Baltic Hub in March 2025.

    This will increase the handling capacity of the Gdansk-based company by 1.7 million TEUs (20-foot containers) to 4.5 million TEUs per year. Baltic Hub will then become one of the largest container terminal complexes in Europe, capable of handling a new generation of container vessels coming to the Baltic Sea. On behalf of the Baltic Hub, the construction of the T3 quay will be carried out by a consortium of Budimex S.A. and Dredging International NV. In 2019. Baltic Hub was the first terminal in the Baltic Sea to handle more than 2 million TEUs in a single year. In 2023, it was already the 20-millionth container since its inception in 2007.

    source, photos: Baltic Hub / https://baltichub.com/