Port of Hueneme has purchased a zero-emission mobile harbor crane

Mammoet has assisted with the transport of a zero-emission mobile harbor crane from the Port of Bremerhaven, Germany, to the Port of Hueneme in California, USA. The hybrid crane, which can be powered by electricity, was purchased by the Port of Hueneme as part of their long term vision to move to zero emission cargo handling. One of the steps towards this vision is to use this crane to deliver the world’s first “zero-emission ship-to-store avocado”.

The Port of Hueneme is part of an initiative to reduce the carbon impact of transporting avocados to California, which currently results in a surprisingly large carbon footprint. Grown in South America they are shipped under temperature controlled conditions, resulting in high carbon emissions. The Port has a vision to achieve zero emission cargo handling, thus eliminating the emissions from one part of the avocado-shipping process. The Port’s new hybrid crane, a Liebherr LHM420 harbor mobile crane, can run on electricity and will make a vital contribution to this goal.

Mammoet was contracted to assist the customer, NYK Line, to load and unload the German-manufactured crane body onto the vessel Cassiopeia Leader. Mammoet moved the under carriage of the dismantled harbor crane from the quay side at the Port of Bremerhaven onto the “Roll-on/Roll-off” vessel. Once it had arrived in the USA a Mammoet team transported the 107-ton under carriage onto the quay side at the port in California. For both locations Mammoet sourced locally-available equipment, from a nearby terminal operator at Bremerhaven and from a nearby project in Los Angeles. This minimized the carbon impact of the transport and enabled a swift mobilization.

Teams from across Mammoet worked in cooperation to execute the two operations, firstly in Bremerhaven, where the under carriage was loaded onto the vessel using SPMTs and then in California, for the unloading operation. The maneuverability and load spreading ability of the SPMTs enable the team to execute the move within the limited 150-tonne capacity of the vessel’s ramp.

Mammoet’s Hamburg office provided a permanent point of contact for NYK Line. With this one-stop-shop approach, Mammoet delivered transport solutions for both ports with different local conditions. This saved the client further coordination efforts and guaranteed a safe and reliable execution, delivering the same high standards at both project locations on two different continents.