Earlier this year, the purchase of a state-of-the-art LHM 550 Liebherr Mobile Harbour Crane by the Maine Port Authority (MPA) for its port in Searsport, ME USA, marked Liebherr Werk-Nenzing’s 40th crane delivery to the North American market. Of these machines, 32 were delivered to the United States, while eight deliveries were made to Canada. The company states that, since 2006, an upward trend in sales has been apparent, with half of its overall number of North American orders being placed since that time.
Facilities at the Searsport terminal include two piers, one of which is for dry cargo and one handling liquid cargoes. Bulk material handling is one of the newly-ordered machine’s main tasks. For that reason, the LHM 550 is equipped with two winches for mechanical four-rope grab operation. With a maximum lifting capacity of 144 t, the new crane is ideal for handling heavy-lift cargo.
The new LHM 550 is the second Liebherr Mobile Harbour crane purchased by the MPA. The Authority received its first crane, an LHM 320, in 2000. Liebherr cites that it was its customer’s positive experience with the first machine that led the MPA to order a new and even stronger LHM, manufactured in accordance with the highest quality standards.
This follows the recent delivery of another LHM 550 – the company’s most popular mobile crane model – to the United States. Gloucester Terminals LLC has also reinforced its cargo handling abilities with one of these cranes. This time equipped with one winch, this company’s new machine will be used for general cargo and container handling. The LHM 550 is backed up by an existing LHM 400, which started operation in Gloucester in January 2011.
Aside from simply producing equipment, Liebherr has built a service network that spans the globe in order to guarantee quick response times toward minimising downtime. Liebherr is optimistic that its upward trend in sales will continue as further deliveries to North America are planned for the coming months.
Adapted from press release by Jack Davidson.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/09102012/liebherr_bulk_handling_crane_maine_port_authority_101/
