Ship to Shore Gantry Cranes

These are our largest. The ship to shore gantry cranes reach out over ships which are over 45m wide. The cranes run on rails which run along the quayside and enable the cranes to travel to the ship. We currently have 12 ship to shore gantry cranes.

We also have a crane called a mobile harbour crane which is used for loading and unloading smaller ships, known as feeder ships, that are taking containers to and from some of the ports around the UK and Ireland where the bigger ships cannot get in, because of their size.

Straddle carriers move containers to and from beneath the cranes and the crane driver picks them up by locking his spreader into the holes at the four corners of each container.

How Does the Crane Operator Know Where to put the Containers on the Ship?

All container movements are planned in the terminal’s computer and a printed plan of where the containers are to be loaded to, or discharged from, is taken to the leading hand, who is responsible for the work of a crane.

The leading hand talks to the crane driver by voice radio, telling him which part of the ship to pick up or load containers.

The leading hand signs each container on the plan to say that they are correctly loaded.