NKM Noell Special Cranes continues to fine-tune its lemniscate designs
NKM Noell Special Cranes has developed a new generation of floating grab crane or lemniscate cranes. The purpose of the floating lemniscate grab crane is to load and unload (bulk) vessels, midstream or between the vessel and the quay, using a 36-tonne or 40-tonne grab. With a reach of 43m, even the largest bulk carriers can be handled by these cranes. The lemniscate principle allows an easy operation with an exceptionally high output when unloading ships.
Special dust-proof grabs can be used to protect the environment when handling very fine materials like alumina or cement.
One key advantage of the floating crane is the ability to position the crane wherever it is needed, be it between quay and ship, between ship and barge, between barge and barge or between two seagoing ships.
The company re-entered the harbour crane market with the innovative new design of the traditional lemniscate-type crane. The basis of the NKM floating grab crane design is a study of the types of operating cranes, which found that the following five factors are the most important for the operator — reach, capacity, cost, environment and reliability.
Protecting the environment is becoming ever-more important, with increasingly stringent regulations being enforced in terms of dust control, noise emissions, fuel consumption and even the overall lifetime of equipment. In order to be issued with a ‘Green Passport’, equipment must reach high levels in all these factors.
In the lemniscate-type design, environmental concerns are of great importance. As noted in the box above, fuel efficiency has been greatly improved with the use of an energy bugger, which reduces the peak load and leads to a significant reduction in the emission of soot particles and noxious gas emissions.
NKM Noell is also careful in its choice of construction materials and material suppliers, as part of the organization’s
environmental policy. The company is concentrating on durable solutions that have a positive influence on the environment and help it to improve its green balance.
NKM Noell lemniscate-type cranes are built for a working life of over 25 years. This has a positive influence on the lifecycle analysis of the crane, and reduces the total cost of operating the crane. The use of innovative materials and improved design and lower power requirements has reduced the noise level of the crane by several decibels.
Besides the initial investment, the NKM Noell lemniscate-type crane is a very economical concept. The life span can be well over 30 years; construction is so rigid that, if the crane is properly maintained, major maintenance jobs can be 10 to 15 years apart. Given the development of port technology, the systems can be upgraded to expand the economic life to the length of the technical life of the installation.
In order to reduce maintenance costs, NKM Noell’s cranes are designed for maintenance, with good accessibility to the wear parts, the use of durable components and conformity to industrial standards.
SERVICE DIVISIONThe service group of NKM Noell Special Cranes, based in the Netherlands, is now focused on the maintenance and modernization of harbour cranes. As a manufacturer, the company has a dedicated engineering group with a broad range of knowledge and experience. This specialism is used when performing retrofits, refurbishments and full upgrades of existing cranes. The services provided vary from feasibility studies, regular maintenance work, supervision, erection and commissioning to turnkey project realization.
Fifth and sixth Gottwald cranes christened for Associated Terminals
Associated Terminals is in the midst of another busy year for capital expenditures, taking delivery of two new floating cranes. In a slight departure from recent christenings, the company held two ceremonies on-site, the first at the Port of St. Bernard and the second at the Port of South Lousiana’s Globalplex facility for the employees of each location.
The first Gottwald crane delivered in March was christened the K. Robertson in honour of senior operations manager Kerry Robertson. Robertson has been part of the Associated Terminals team for nearly a decade, joining the company upon the acquisition of Gulf Coast Dockside. Robertson’s responsibilities include terminal operations and special projects.
David Fennelly, director, provided the dedication of the crane to such a deserving team member. “Kerry is a great example of the ‘Ability and Attitude to Accomplish Anything’. Whether it is managing an unloading operation inTheodore,AL or Corpus Christi,TX, overseeing construction projects or installing buoy systems and barge fleets, Kerry is the ‘go to’ guy and the person that we can truly rely upon.”
The second Gottwald crane delivered in July was christened the F.Walker in honour of senior
operations manager Frankie Walker. Walker has been with Associated Terminals for more than 14 years. He joined the company as a ship supervisor and today serves as senior operations manager responsible for all stevedoring and terminal operations.
“Frankie is someone that our team relies upon
greatly. His knowledge and experience are invaluable assets to our company,” stated Todd Fuller, president. “Frankie has played a key role not only managing our various operations, but also training and developing many of our operations team. He is a great example of the loyalty and commitment that make Associated Terminals a success.”
The K. Robertson and F.Walker are Associated Terminals’ fifth and sixth Gottwald cranes constructed during the past four years. The two cranes and barges are identical to the crane barges, Ability and Attitude, which were christened in March of 2010.
Demag Cranes supplies further floating cranes for the Mississippi River
Gottwald Port Technology GmbH (Gottwald), a subsidiary of Demag Cranes AG, has been awarded a contract to supply two more floating cranes to St. James Stevedoring Partners, Llc, Louisiana, USA, which will enter service on the Mississippi River in the autumn of this year. The customer already operates six Gottwald floating cranes.
Instead of the conventional rubber-tyred chassis that mobile harbour cranes are usually installed on, the floating cranes are mounted on barges.
“With our two new Gottwald floating cranes, we aim to achieve a flexible increase in our cargo handling capacities and usefully extend our existing logistics,” states Paul E. Morton, President of St. James Stevedoring Partners, Llc. “Our customers expect rapid handling of their cargo despite increasing volumes. This goal can only be achieved with high-end cranes, handling rates and reliability.”
Thomas H. Hagen, member of the management board of Demag Cranes AG and COO, states, “Thanks to their high performance and versatility, our floating cranes are becoming more and more established in the market, as shown again by the follow-up order received from St. James.”
GOTTWALD CRANES PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN HANDLING CAPACITY
St. James Stevedoring Partners, Llc, in Convent, Louisiana, with six mid-stream buoys served by Gottwald floating cranes ranging from mile marker (MM) 122 (located just outside of New Orleans International Airport) up to MM 167 on the Lower Mississippi River, aims to extend its handling capacity in mid- stream operation. The two Model 8 variant G HPK 8400 B floating cranes will be added to the existing fleet and are intended to make the transhipment of bulk goods including ores, coal, cereals and fertilizers from larger vessels, up to Baby- Capesize, to barges even more efficient.
The Demag Cranes Group subsidiary, Gottwald Port Technology, already supplied the first floating crane, an HPK 330 EG, to St. James Stevedoring Partners, Llc, in 2004, where it has since been in service for more than 42,000 hours of operation. It was the first crane of its kind to be developed in close co-operation together with the customer by Gottwald Port Technology, the world-renowned supplier of mobile harbour cranes. “To meet growing requirements, we naturally selected the world market leader once again, since they understand and cater to our needs in full,” continues St. James Stevedoring president Morton.
HIGHEST-PERFORMANCE GOTTWALD FLOATING CRANESThe two G HPK 8400 B built for St. James Stevedoring Partners, Llc, are the first Gottwald floating cranes that can handle heavy loads weighing up to 100 tonnes. For handling bulk goods, they
have the highest-performance 63-tonne grab curve that Demag Cranes has installed on a floating crane until now. In crane classification A8, this enables them to have a radius of up to 37 metres, and even up to 39 metres in A7. Depending on operating conditions, the G HPK 8400 B cranes can each handle up to 1,850 tonnes of bulk material per hour. This makes them the largest and highest-performing floating cranes of their kind on the Lower Mississippi River.
NEW TECHNOLOGY:VERIFIABLE WEIGHING SYSTEM PROVIDES FOR IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY
The cranes feature a new technology, they are also fitted with a verifiable weighing system that is installed direct on the crane. This system is far more precise than conventional load measuring solutions on cranes and can be integrated into the handling process more easily than external weighing systems. “Thanks to this innovation, in future we will be able to offer our customers complete transparency with reference to the transhipped goods,” explains Morton. The new system has already been approved for use as a verifiable solution in the European Union. Regardless of the immediately useful transparency benefit provided by the system, St. James Stevedoring Partners, Llc, is also submitting it for corresponding certification with the US testing authority. There are also plans for an officially approved crane weighing system that is specially designed for cereals to replace today’s weighing solutions with chutes mounted on barges.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY OPERATIONFloating cranes such as the Model 8 variant G HPK 8400 B supplied by Gottwald also meet the increasing Green Port efforts being pursued by port and terminal operators. The diesel-electric drive concept typically employed by Gottwald offers good efficiency, which pays off in terms of low fuel consumption and minimized exhaust emissions. New types of dynamic brake resistors also provide for optimized energy management in the cranes, resulting in savings of up to 15.2% (achieved under specific deployment conditions and based on experience gained from operating a Gottwald Generation 5 crane over a period of more than one year).