Giant cranes up capacity at Antwerp-Bruges

This is the latest major milestone in the operator’s €200 million expansion plan to keep up with the terminal’s current and future growth.

“DP World strongly believes in Antwerp’s position as a global trade hub and gateway to Europe. With our worldwide network and ever-expanding logistics services, our aim is to strengthen the competitiveness of the port and make it the engine of the Belgian economy,” said Dirk Van den Bosch, CEO, DP World Antwerp Gateway.

“These cranes will enable us to handle our projected volume growth in the years ahead.”

Far reaching

The cranes, which can handle up to a width of 26 container rows on a ship, were constructed by crane builder ZPMC and join a strong network of ten cranes at the DP World terminal on the eastern side of the Deurganck dock.

They are part of DP World’s €200 million  investment plan for the modernisation, greening and capacity expansion of the terminal, which was initiated in 2019 and is supported by the European Commission.

In addition to the three new cranes, the terminal will be commissioning three new automatic modules this year.

Next year, it plans to add two more quay cranes to take it to a total of 15 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes.

The terminal’s crane park can simultaneously handle the largest container ships in the world, which can transport up to 24,000 teu. The latest cranes can handle up to a width of 26 container rows on a ship, which is one row more than on the current generation of container vessels.