Sri Lanka’s largest capacity crane unloaded at HIP

Last week, the largest capacity crawler crane in Sri Lanka was unloaded at Hambantota International Port. The crane, which has a lifting capacity of 750 tonnes, will initially be used for the Hiruras wind power project in Mannar. The Liebherr brand crane, built in Germany, was used in Japan and has now been imported to Sri Lanka for civil projects.

“HIP has earned a reputation for its RORO capabilities and we are currently aggressively promoting the port’s ability to handle all types of vehicles in the international market. The way this heavy piece of equipment was unloaded in port is a good example of the power of HIP. Heavy equipment coming into port does not have to be transported on flat racks, but is instead moved using trailers that are driven onto and off the respective vessels. This increases our safety factor and minimizes accidents. We believe this changes the equation even in the case of handling such equipment and Hambantota International Port is open for this business,” says Tissa Wickramasinghe; the COO of Hambantota International Port Group (Pvt) Limited.

The crawler crane, consisting of 1000 tons of components, was unloaded by HIP within one day. The load was then transferred to 42 trucks which took the equipment by road in 2 days to the project site in Mannar for assembly.

“HIP is known for its accident-free operations and maintaining very high health and safety standards. This is one of the main reasons the port is a preferred choice for importing heavy equipment that requires delicate handling, such as the crawler crane, which is the largest in Sri Lanka to date. It is the first time Japan has exported such a large crane. There are few cranes with this capacity in Japan and only three in all of South Asia. We were encouraged when HIP’s marketing team expressed the port’s capabilities during their visit to Japan, which helped us in the decision to ship the crane to HIP,” says Keerthi Manthrirathna, owner of Rainbow Lanka (Pvt) Limited, the largest crane rental company in Sri Lanka.

Source: www.maritimegateway.com