New Portal Crane for Schwedenkai Intermodal Handling

Port of Kiel invests in hinterland rail links.

A new portal crane has arrived at Kiel’s Schwedenkai Intermodal Terminal, meaning that trains involved in rail-ship cargo handling in future will be loaded and unloaded using the new unit instead of two Reach Stackers. The crane, built by Finnish manufacturer Konecranes, arrived in Kiel on September 25th from Gdynia in Poland aboard the heavy load vessel “Meri”. The unloading took place under the crane’s own power via a ship ramp. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) commented: “the new portal crane is our contribution to moving more cargo onto environmentally-friendly rail services”. It is planned to take the new crane into service at the end of the year after final fitting, tests and acceptance procedures have been carried out. “The new portal crane will become a new scenic landmark at the Schwedenkai, just like the old port cranes used to be for bulk cargo handling”, said Dirk Claus.

The new 140 ton portal crane, a rubber-tyred gantry crane (RTG), is 29 m wide and straddles three track widths and the corresponding rail terminal loading lanes. Its lifting height below the spreader is 14 m and its overall height is 21 m. The RTG is suitable for handling  trailers, containers and swap bodies and has a lifting capacity of up to 40 tons. Its movement alongside the rail tracks is GPS supported. The new unit represents an investment of 1.55 million Euros and was funded by the Government under a program to promote intermodal handling facilities.  “Because of the new crane and the expansion of train services to and from northern Italy, I am convinced that we will this year pass the 25,000 consignment mark in intermodal rail-ship cargo traffic”, said Dirk Claus.

The Port is linked to the national rail network by shuttle trains which connect Kiel with Hamburg’s Billwerder Marshalling Yard five times a week in both directions. In addition there are complete block trains serving the Ruhr and northern Italy. The direct train link to and from Duisburg was opened at the start of 2014 and since then has operated two round trip services a week. The connection between Kiel and Verona in northern Italy has been in existence for two years and was expanded at the start of September this year to three round trips a week. “Schwedenkai may be only a relatively small operation”, said Dirk Claus, “but growing rail cargo traffic there represents a challenge which we want to take up with our fast and high-capacity new portal crane”.  In the first eight months of this year a total of 16,300 trailers and containers were loaded onto the railways at Schwedenkai and in the Ostuferhafen. That’s an increase of 1.5% over the same period of last year.