The new E-Crane® installed at Van Heyghen Recycling is one of
seven in the Group Galloo system spanning three countries.
A new 2000 Series E-Crane at Group Galloo’s Van Heyghen
Recycling yard in Ghent, Belgium, is the third E-Crane installed at
this location and the seventh at Galloo scrap handling operations
at four sites in Belgium, France and the Çolakoglu Metalurji
steel mill in Turkey. The new 2000 Series E-Crane has greatly
reduced operating time and costs in loading scrap into
Handymax vessels and in receiving, handling and stocking scrap
in the yard.
The 2000 Series E-Crane has a lifting capacity of 30 metric
tonnes in grab mode (40 tonnes in hook mode) and a reach of
38.2 meters. The unique E-Crane parallelogram design ensures
near perfect balance throughout its full working range and
provides significant energy savings and lower operating costs.
The new E-Crane is mounted on a high gantry and is specially
designed for curved rails.
Other special design features include a moveable cab for
optimum operator visibility, a camera system for the 12m3 grab
and matching quick-change system. On-site testing and tuning
were completed in October 2009, followed by comprehensive
training for operators and maintenance staff.
The new E-Crane can stockpile scrap to a height of more
than 25 metres. This is necessary to pile enough scrap to ensure
that the Handymax ships (30,000–40,000dwt) can be easily
loaded without bringing up extra scrap during the loading
process.
The new E-Crane handles scrap brought in and dumped by
trucks, as well as larger quantities brought in by lighters, barges
and coasters. During the unloading of the first barges it was
clear that the process took only half the time of the previous
equipment.
Loading outgoing vessels with processed scrap has been
accomplished with great efficiency also. For example the new
E-Crane has been loading smaller coasters at 1,000tph (tonnes
per hour).
However, the ultimate test was to load the first Handymax
vessel. These ships have five holds, four deck cranes and a typical
length of 180 to 200 metres. Handymax and smaller Handysize
ships are the workhorses of dry bulk ocean transport. Although
a Handymax is smaller than
a Panamax (50,000 to
80,000dwt), loading and
unloading these ships
presents daunting
challenges that require
crane versatility.
The first Handymax the
new 2000 Series E-Crane
loaded was the Monica P., a
ship that is 31 metres wide,
190 metres long, and has a
load capacity of 46,000
tonnes. Once moored, at
about 7am on a Thursday,
the loading began. Two
mobile harbour cranes
were also used to assure
maximum efficiency. The
E-Crane loaded the smallest
and most difficult number
one hold at such a record
pace that it was employed
to load the number two
hold by about 11am. The
overall performance of the
E-Crane was so quick and
efficient that only one
harbour crane was used on
Friday. At about 6am
Saturday morning, the
Monica P. set sail with
35,000 tonnes of scrap that
had been loaded in 48
hours.
The installation of the
new 2000 series E-Crane at
Ghent completes the
recycling cycle where seven
E-Cranes are in operation
at four different locations.
at Galloo’s Halliun,
France and Brugge, Belgium
yards, scrap is offloaded
from trucks and fed into a
shear. The cut scrap is then
loaded into small ships.
This is handled by 700
Series E-Crane model 6317
on crawlers (operational
since 2000) at the Halliun yard or a 1000 Series E-Crane model
7317 high gantry on rails (operational since 2005) at Galloo’s
Denolf Recycling in Brugge.
on the quay at Van Heyghen in Ghent the new 2000 Series
E-Crane unloads the ships from Brugge and Halliun. The scrap is
then stockpiled by a 1000 Series E-Crane model 7317-GAE and
a 2000 Series E-Crane model 21382-GAE.
subsequently in Ghent the scrap is loaded into Handymax
ships by the new 2000 Series E-Crane.
the Monica P. sailed to her final destination at the Çolakoglu
Metalurji steel mill in Turkey, where a 1500 Series E-Crane type
9317-GAE (operational since 2005) unloads the scrap into scrap
baskets for transport to the mill.
This challenging project with seven E-Cranes used throughout
the scrap recycling process demonstrates the versatility and
flexibility E-Crane products can provide to clients worldwide.
E-Crane’s modular design concept allows E-Crane engineers to
tailor custom solutions for customer needs, based on proven
core components. Five different machine series are available
based on capacity requirements: 700, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 3000.
Within each series are models with different boom and stick
configurations to suit outreach requirements. E-Crane’s
hydraulically pivoting, mechanically linked boom design keeps the
machine in near perfect balance throughout its working range.
Having gravity work for you instead of against you reduces
horsepower requirements and power consumption up to 50%