NORTH AMERICA

Crane manufacturer rebukes US claims

8 years ago

Liebherr Container Cranes has refuted US claims that China is the only manufacturer of low-profile cranes – used at ports close to airports – and that super-post panamax cranes are only available to a limited degree outside of China.

The claims, made to the US Trade Representative by the American Association of Port Authorities,
“may lead to a false impression/unbalanced view of the container crane market in the US”, said a spokesperson for Liebherr Container Cranes.

Liebherr Container Cranes told Port Strategy that it had supplied large cranes, up to megamax size, to the US market without any limitations and had also supplied low-profile cranes in the form of articulated boom cranes, which are suitable for use close to airports where there are restrictions on crane heights.

In addition, Liebherr added that it has supplied some of the world’s largest container cranes including super-post panamax and megamax cranes to US terminals. Since 2001 it has supplied 20 large ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes to the New York/New Jersey region, most of which were megamax cranes, substantially larger than super-post panamax cranes. The manufacturer will hand over a further two megamax STS cranes in the first quarter of 2019 to PNCT at the Port of New Jersey.