Recycling port equipment the responsible way

The three 60m high HMK 260 Gottwald cranes, which weigh in collectively at 900 tonnes, are being stripped of their parts and what is left will be cut up and sent to the scrapyard for recycling.

Operationally, the port still has some of the same models in service, so parts have been retained to reduce future maintenance costs.

“We’ve been investing significantly in cranes and with the three new Liebherr cranes on site and working, we can now retire these Gottwald ones,” said Simon Bird, director of the Humber ports.

”With our sustainability strategy we have been able to salvage about £250,000 worth of parts from these cranes which will be utilised in our robust maintenance programme to ensure similar models can be kept in service until it’s time to retire them.”

Greener cranes

Crane deconstruction specialists, BDB Dismantling Ltd of Barnsley, has secured the tender as principal contractor to dismantle the old cranes and break them down into smaller components. Some of the salvage includes drive axles, electrical items, cameras, monitors, joysticks and an entire luffing ram system, including hydraulics.

The port’s new Liebherr 420 cranes at an investment of £9.7 million, are more energy efficient running on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) with an option to switch to all electric.

They arrived in November 2022 and offer greater versatility because they can be deployed on any quay, though they’re primarily used for bulk cargo handling and scrap handling.

They’re equipped with the Liebherr hybrid system which comprises of a diesel generator which runs on HVO, which achieves a greater performance while reducing fuel consumption at the same time. The sustainable hybrid drive reduces the emission of CO2 and other harmful substances, but also gives more power.

The new cranes are part of ABP’s £32 million investment in port equipment in the Humber to maintain customer demand as part of a wider group investment.

More new equipment and cranes are in the pipeline for delivery, including a new mobile harbour crane currently being built in Sunderland, which will arrive in the Port of Hull later this year.