In May 2011, the Port of Odense received delivery of a new Liebherr mobile harbour crane, type LHM 550. With its impressive total height of 74 meter the crane is more than twice as high as the famous Round Tower in Copenhagen. The strong, ultramodern LHM 550 can lift up to 150 tonnes in hook operation, and is able to handle all types of general cargo, containers and bulk commodities.

Operations take place at Odense Port Terminal at Lindø, which is one of Denmark’s most central transport areas for heavy and voluminous cargo. The crane, which is equipped with the Pactronic® hybrid drive system has now passed the trial period and demonstrated that substantial benefits for the port could be achieved.

“Once each month our big scrap ship arrives to Odense Port Terminal and loads 30,000 tons metal scrap. In the past we had to spend 3 days and nights on this job, but with the new Liebherr LHM 550 we can make it in 2 days and nights. Moreover the mobility and outreach of the crane give us some quite new and flexible possibilities to place the scrap heaps strategically on the harbour areas”, Ole Kristiansen, Production Manager, H.J. Hansen – one of the leading recycling companies in Denmark.

Liebherr Mobile Harbour Cranes are front-runners in their market segments - thanks to constant process of technical upgrading and improvement, the technological lead also extends to the field of hybrid drive solutions.

With its new Pactronic® hybrid drive system, Liebherr has chosen the principle of a hydraulic accumulator. In fact, a secondary energy source is added to the drive system. Charging is done by regenerating the reverse power while lowering the load. The stored energy of the accumulator is transferred back to the system when the crane requires peak power during hoisting. In terms of turnover capacity, that means a plus of 30% compared to a conventional machine with equal power rating of the primary energy source.

This is a new solution in its class that has a potential superior to the competition. It is more efficient than any other system currently on the market, especially as it is boosting turnover performance while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions.

The new Liebherr LHM 550 for Port of Odense is the first of its type in Europe. More turnover with less and less fuel consumption – Liebherr is pursuing a consistent strategy to achieve further reductions in emissions. This is quite an issue in two ways. For possible future pollution taxes Pactronic® guarantees further economic advantages and of course, it’s an essential milestone on the way to effective and efficient, low emission cargo handling.