On the morning of April 24, following an eleven days journey from the port of Fenit (Ireland), m/v Vetis Falcon berthed alongside the docks of TCR, Broström Tankers AB gateway in the Adriatic Sea, carrying on board with the components of the new quay crane ordered from Irish company Liebherr last summer.
Discharge operations of all the components commenced immediately upon arrival and concluded on the evening of April 26, with all departments working in synergy to prevent any inconvenience to the daily activity of the terminal.
Given the size and specifications of the various parts stowed on the ship, unloading operations were more complex than usual. In particular, both the reticular structures making up the crane boom (respectively wide 57mt x width 4,4 mt x height 4,3 mt weighing 92,5 Tons and wide 47,7 mt x width 4,4 mt x height 4,5 mt weighing 89,5 T) and the control room (wide 14,9 mt x width 6,1 mt x height 5 mt weighing 75,5 T) required extraordinary handling capabilities, a challenge which TCR staff and equipment completed with success. Once again, the terminal’s ability to deal with special cargo – so far a long record of handling disparate break bulk and general cargo projects – proved TCR vocation as “Special Port for Special Products”.
The components were initially discharged next to the dedicated civil works area, then moved inside the aforesaid at a later stage and positioned in accordance with the assembly plan, as a way to maximize efficiency and minimize time incurred.
The assembly phase will now start, with TCR expecting to complete all building activities and test stints (planned for week 35) within 18 weeks, a time when the new quay crane will be fully operational.
