Increasing demand from customers for export services has led Patrick to commission the brand new ship-to-shore crane which augments the company’s existing fleet to five. The crane which has an outreach of 50m with a lifting capacity of 75 tonnes, lifts containers in both single and twin-lift mode and, is faster in terms of its hoist and cross travel speeds. Terminal Manager Matt Hollamby said: “The acquisition of this new machinery is further testament to Patrick’s commitment to vigorously contest the market with the highest quality equipment.
“We expect to make significant productivity gains with this new crane. It will join a fleet of existing ZPMC cranes and will deliver efficient supply chains for importers and exporters. “This investment is a demonstration of Patrick’s commitment to the Port of Brisbane and represents the continuation of a development program aimed to serve the needs of our customers for years to come,” he added further.
The crane was manufactured in Ireland by Liebherr Container Cranes, one of the world’s leading crane manufacturers and delivered in parts to Patrick’s Brisbane Autostrad Terminal in February. Close to 200 individual lifts were required to bring the parts ashore – everything from small packing cases to the machinery house. In addition to the new crane, Patrick also commissioned four additional automated straddle machines or AutoStrads to support the crane bringing its fleet total to five ship-to-shore gantry cranes and 31 Autostrads in the Brisbane operations.