Page 33 - Port of Hamburg Magazine 02.24

PORT OF HAMBURG MAGAZINE 2/24 ALL-PURPOSE PORT
PAGE 33
Strong as ever
The HHLA floating cranes have a cumu- lative age of almost 150 years. When it comes to lifting, they are just as strong as they were on their very first day.
BY RALF JOHANNING
When heavy cargo at the Port of Hamburg can only reach the ship over the water, this requires the floating cranes of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). They first safely lift ship propellors or trains onto pon- toons and then onto the ship.
The two cranes that are still in use have been doing this work for a long time now. To be precise, HHLA III com- menced service back in 1941. It initially helped in the construction of warships. After that, it aided in the re- construction of the destroyed port, where the quantity and sizes of the goods handled soon increased again. As the only floating crane that could lift 100 tonnes,
HHLA IV can lift up to 200 tonnes
and itself weighs 2,750 tonnes.
HHLA III was kept busy with a heavy workload. For this reason, in 1957 the Department for River and Port Con- struction commissioned the construction of a new floating crane with a lifting capacity of 200 tonnes. The crane operates today as HHLA IV.
In the 1960s, ownership of the floating cranes – or sim- ply cranes as we like to call them at the port – was transferred to HHLA. They work as freely rotatable double-jib luffing cranes, and their stable frame en- sures horizontal load control. The taller HHLA III can “only” lift 100 tonnes, but at 76 metres in height, it is able to carry loads over a lifting path of 48 metres.
As the youngest crane, HHLA IV has to handle the heaviest packaging units at the port. The more com- pact giant can lift up to 200 tonnes and itself weighs 2,750 tonnes. Nevertheless, the rectangular pontoon can still be controlled with millimetre precision even when fully laden. Depth-adjustable blades are situated
© HHLA/Dietmar Hasenpusch