Leasing contracts for seven new cranes have been approved by Russia’s largest commercial port operator Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group.

Two 124t Liebherr LHM 550 mobile harbour cranes for container handling are included in the order along with a 40t Aist electric full-revolving gantry crane and four Vityaz electric gantry jib cranes, one with a 100t lifting capacity and with 63t capacities.

The mobile harbour cranes will replace existing Gottwald cranes working at berths 16 and 18 of Broad Pier number one. They are scheduled to be the first of the seven cranes operational at the seaport, by November this year following delivery a month earlier.

At Novorossiysk’s eastern pier the 40t Aist gantry crane, produced by SSM, will be at work by February 2013 unloading iron, iron ore, iron ore concentrate and ferrous metals. One of the 63-tonners will start work alongside the Aist crane two months later, while at the East Pier’s berth 5 the largest Vityaz crane will be in operation by October 2013.

The other two Vityaz cranes will work Broad Pier number two and West Pier berths five and six from June and August 2013 respectively, unloading similar cargo to the East Pier cranes but with the Broad Pier number two crane also handling pig iron, steel sheets and steel coils.

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) Group CEO Rado Antolovich said: “NCSP purchased a Liebherr crane for trial purposes in November 2011 and we were satisfied with both the technical and operational characteristics.

“NCSP first purchased cranes manufactured by SMM in 2009. Our first Vityaz crane, with a lifting capacity of 63t, has worked over 13,482 hours and handled 1.9t of cargo since 2009. In 2010 and 2011 NCSP purchased two more of these cranes due to their good operational characteristics.

“Due to our effective cooperation with SMM we expect the Aist and Vityaz cranes may be delivered to the port one to two months ahead of schedule.”

Russian port operator leases seven new cranes