DCT Gdansk takes delivery of first Liebherr cranes

Secondary equipment orders confirmed

DCT Gdansk SA, the new deepwater container terminal for the Baltic under construction in Poland, has taken delivery of the first of three post-Panamax ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and two of five rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes from Liebherr Cranes of Killarney in the Irish Republic. The STS crane, which arrived at the facility on the vessel Traveller on 25 January 2007, will be assembled on site ready to handle the first vessel in June this year, when DCT Gdansk Phase 1 begins commercial operations.

Delivery of the remaining STS and RTG cranes, also ordered from Liebherr last year, will take place during the spring.

The Liebherr STS cranes incorporate Bromma twinlift spreaders and have a lifting capacity of 60 tonnes. A 52m outreach means that they will be capable of handling ships carrying containers 19-across on deck.

Commenting on the delivery, Fred Kamperman, General Manager of DCT Gdansk said:

"The delivery of these cranes - well ahead of schedule - marks a key stage in the development of the terminal. Once erected, they will give us the ability to handle vessels of 6,000TEU capacity and greater, making DCT Gdansk a truly world-class, modern container facility.

"We have been delighted with the pace of construction progress to date: quay, surfacing, buildings and rail facilities are all in an advanced state of completion."

DCT Gdansk has also confirmed orders for secondary handling equipment, including one reachstacker, one seven-high empty container handler and one SL32 ro-ro truck from SMV Konecranes Liftrucks. Terberg tractors and Buiscar heavy duty trailers have been ordered together with Hyster forklift trucks from Polish concessionaire Zeppelin. All will be delivered in the spring.

DCT Gdansk will commence operations on 1 June 2007 as the first stages of Phase 1 become available. The continuing construction of this phase will be completed by the end of September when 650m of quay, dredged to a depth of 16.5 metres, will give storage capacity of 500,000 TEU. According to the company, the timing of the decision to commence construction of the next 500,000 TEU phase will be determined by demand.

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Note to Editors

Photographs to accompany this release are available on the Dunelm website at www.dunelmpr.co.uk/DCT-Photogallery-NEW.htm. The caption to accompany the photos reads:

"DCT Gdansk has taken delivery of its first Liebherr ship-to-shore container crane and two rubber-tyred gantry cranes. The cranes, which will be erected on site, will undertake their first container lifts in June."