Crane operation to get underway in Cork Harbour with the arrival of the Happy Buccaneer

A major crane-loading operation gets underway in Cork Harbour this week.

The heavy-lift ship the Happy Buccaneer arrived yesterday and will be used to load five gantry cranes destined for Montreal.

The operation will be similar to the loading operation in 2017 that saw three port cranes loaded onboard the heavy transport vessel Albatross and exported to Puerto Rico.

The cranes have been manufactured by Liebherr in Killarney and will be transported to the Doyle Shipping Group's (DSG) facility in Rushbrooke where the loading operation will take place.

However, while there are more cranes being exported this time they will be shipped in smaller parts and assembled at their final destination on-site at Montreal.

Liebherr have a second project underway on-site in Rushbrooke assembling three Liebherr Rubber Tyred Gantry cranes for Teesport in the UK. 

These will be shipped fully assembled in Autumn 2019 and will be operational soon after arrival in Teesport.

Busy ports worldwide have limited time and space to set aside for assembly of large port cranes. This has led to a growing market for delivery of these cranes fully assembled. 

Liebherr have been using DSG’s facility in Cork Harbour to pre-assemble cranes since late 2016 and have previously shipped STS (ship to shore) container cranes to Puerto Rico and Hull and RTG cranes to Murmansk.