Liebherr has perfect product portfolio to cater the demand for state-of-the-art equipment

- Sunil Kalra

Managing Director, Liebherr India

The Sagarmala programme has set a roadmap to increase the Indian port capacity to 3,300+ MMTPA by 2025? How will this propel the prospects of port equipment players?

The current government is focused in developing infrastructure for the growth of our country and reduce the logistics cost. Accordingly, the Sagarmala Programme is launched by the government to enhance performance of the country's logistics sector and create enough capacity to meet future demand. This is possible broadly by setting up new mega ports, modernising India's existing ports, developing Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) and Coastal Economic Units, enhancing port connectivity via inland waterways.

The setting up of new mega ports will require the latest state-of-the-art equipment and Liebherr has perfect product portfolio to cater this demand. This will create huge opportunity for port equipment suppliers.

Secondly, government has also launched very important scheme called 'Project Unnati', wherein various projects are identified for efficiency improvements as well as upgradation of existing port. This is mainly by replacing old equipment with the latest technology and by upgrading existing equipment. Such projects have been offering very good opportunities for equipment suppliers like Liebherr.

Last but not least, the government's focus and efforts being put on development of inland waterways. A decade ago, we had only few official national waterways; however, as on date we have 114 official national waterways. Government has a plan to develop these waterways as navigable river step-by-step, which will offer huge opportunities in future. In fact, Liebherr was selected as preferred supplier for supply of two units of mobile harbour cranes at the country's first inland waterways terminal developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) at Varanasi. This was followed by a repeat order for the supply of similar equipment for the Sahibganj inland waterways terminal too.

How can Liebherr port handling equipment improve the cargo handling efficiency at Indian ports?

One of the best solutions available for port cargo handling is mobile harbour crane as it is very versatile machine being used for handling any kind of cargo i.e. dry bulk, break bulk, container, project cargo as well as heavy lift just by an easy exchange of attachment. The Liebherr Mobile Harbour Crane (LHM) is fundamentally much more efficient than other manufacturers' models on the MHC market. The decisive contribution to efficiency comes from the innovative hydrostatic drive concept. Closed hydraulic loops are used for all main functions such as hoisting, slewing and luffing. The crane driver benefits from extremely precise control, the service personnel benefits from a minimum number and size of components and the operating company benefits from reduced fuel consumption thanks to the standard use of reverse power. The Liebherr hydrostatic drive is undeniably the most reliable and high performing drive system for every mobile harbour crane due to rapid achievement of high performance, long-term durability, low maintenance costs and a series of operation-specific advantages such as outstanding acceleration and deceleration. This means higher turnover in shorter periods and proven savings for the customer.

In addition to the hydrostatic drive, the mobility of the LHM is a decisive advantage for the customer. All wheel sets are individually steerable and have load balancing, whereby the ground pressure for each wheel does not exceed six tonnes. Furthermore, the 360° mobility ensures highest manoeuvrability. This is a decisive advantage at all quays and terminals as the crane can be used very flexible where it is needed.

Which are the latest solutions from the company in port equipment?

Our latest port equipment innovation is the new LHM. It is more digital, more efficient and impresses with a modern exterior design. A new crane control system, advanced sensor integration and digital information transmission enable future assistance and partial automation systems. In addition, the Liebherr Pactronic hybrid system and the operator's cab have been improved to meet customer needs.

With its new mobile harbour crane, Liebherr presents ground-breaking technical developments and updates that make the LHM product series fit for the future. The decisive innovation is the implementation of the "Master V" crane control system. Together with an even more efficient software architecture, this forms the basis for integrating future assistance and partial automation systems into the crane in the long term. Overall, the crane will become much more digital, networked, and smarter. 

What are the emerging technology trends in port handling equipment? What kind of technologies will help scale up the efficiency at Indian ports in future?

Digitisation: The new LHM is more digital, more efficient and impresses with a modern exterior design. A new crane control system, advanced sensor integration and digital information transmission enable future assistance and partial automation systems. In addition, the Liebherr Pactronic hybrid system and the operator's cab have been improved to meet customer needs.

With its new mobile harbour crane, Liebherr presents ground-breaking technical developments and updates that make the LHM product series fit for the future. The decisive innovation is the implementation of the 'Master V' crane control system. Together with an even more efficient software architecture, this forms the basis for integrating future assistance and partial automation systems into the crane in the long term. Overall, the crane will become much more digital, networked, and smarter. 

Energy saving: The Liebherr Pactronic 2.0 hybrid system represents the second generation of a hydraulic drive system using hybrid technology. An accumulator serves as an energy storage and provides support when needed by supplying additional, temporarily stored power. The second generation of the Pactronic offers the operator a choice of two operating modes, depending on the current work situation:

Boost mode: In this mode, the Pactronic 2.0 acts as a significant power amplifier. Lifting speeds are significantly increased - without the aid of a larger or even additional engine for more power. This massively increases the efficiency of the crane. The LHM together with a Pactronic 2.0 hybrid system provides a reduced cargo-handling time and achieves the same performance parameters as a comparable device with two main units.

Green mode: This mode is designed to save fuel or power consumption and to reduce CO2 emissions. During the lifting process, the Pactronic supports the main unit to such an extent that less power is required by the main drive, despite the lifting speeds remaining the same. As a result, absolute fuel or power consumption and emissions are reduced.

The second-generation Pactronic is thus even more closely aligned to the actual needs of the user. By setting the individual lifting height, the power output of the Pactronic is adjusted accordingly. The additional energy of the Pactronic is distributed over the entire lifting process. It is also important to note that the new Pactronic reacts to changes in the outside temperature and the accompanying change in pressure in the reservoir, thus further increasing the efficiency of the system. 

Powerful - 90t load curve in grab operation: In the course of introducing our new generation of mobile harbour cranes, we were not only able to increase the eye level of our LHM 600 due to design changes, but also to raise the SWL in grab operation to 90t on the ropes, as with the LHM 800. This improves the efficiency of this device enormously and we were able to significantly increase the performance in the large equipment sector and are prepared for ever larger ships in the future.

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