The world’s largest, electrically-operated Liebherr port handling machine with gantry undercarriage, the LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic, has been commissioned and handed over in Da Feng Port in the Chinese province of Jiangsu.
The LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic is the first electrically-operated port handling machine in its weight class entirely supplied by Liebherr. All components were developed, produced and tested by Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH in Kirchdorf an der Iller, Germany, from the attachments to the work equipment, the hydraulic cab elevation and uppercarriage. The rail-mounted portal of this giant was developed in close cooperation with Liebherr- MCCtec Rostock GmbH.
The LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic has an operating weight of approximately 200 tonnes and is fitted with Liebherr’s standard ERC system, in addition to the engine power, it can also store energy when lowering the equipment available. This allows the LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic to achieve an output of up to 614 kW with energy savings of 30% at the same time. An additionally integrated high-voltage transformer reduces the 10 kV supply voltage of the local mains network to 400V which is then used to operate the main drive of the machine, a 400 kW Liebherr electric motor.
According to the constructor the port handling machine is specifically tailored to meet the customer’s requirements. For example, the uppercarriage has not been seated in the conventional manner, centrally on the rail mounted portal. Instead it has been positioned off-centre, towards the side facing the sea. With its 16.5 m long, angled boom and 15 m long, straight stick, the LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic can cover the entire working area of a 10 thousand tonne timber-handling ship and more than 70% of a 30 thousand tonne timber-handling ship.
The machine was handed over during a ceremony where Joachim Strobel (Managing Director Sales, Liebherr-EMtec GmbH) symbolically gave a large golden key to the General Manager of DaFeng Port, Ji Xiaobo. Operation of China’s first electrically- operated port handling machine in the 200-tonne category started officially with the handover.
Ji Xiaobo, General Manager of DaFeng Port commented: “The use of the electrically- operated port handling machine is of huge importance to DaFeng Port and our goal of developing DaFeng Port as a “green port”. The LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic will also help DaFeng Port achieve an annual handling capacity of 100 million tonnes.”
Vice General Manager Lin Feng added: “The LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic is 2.5 times more productive than jib cranes for unloading wood. This shortens the waiting times of the ships and significantly reduces the cost of unloading the timber per tonne. This means that the operational efficiency of our port increases considerably making DaFeng Port more competitive.”
