The largest gantry crane in the Nordic countries was delivered today to Meyer Turku shipyard by Finnish company Konecranes.

The huge crane will be used to build increasingly large cruise ships at Meyer Turku shipyard with an even higher degree of industrialization, the yard said, in a statement. 

The new crane has a total height of 120 meters, rail span of 154 meters and max lifting height of 90 meters.

“Normally we are the ones delivering large high tech products to our customers, but this time we are the customer. The new crane is an essential part of our 200 million euro ramp-up investment program, as it will triple our daily lifting capacity. In the future we are able to build larger grand blocks, which in turn increases our possibilities to industrialize our production further. And finally this gantry crane project is a good example of Finnish collaboration, since the shipyard has built the 2500-ton crane beam as a subcontractor to KoneCranes. We are very happy to have the new crane help us fulfill the promises we have made in our orderbook,” said CEO Jan Meyer.

Konecranes was responsible for the design, precision drive components, electrical installation and automation system and structural components. The high volume and quality of Meyer Turku steel manufacturing was used to build the main girder and also to weld it in place.

“Our cooperation with Meyer Turku has been one of our most exciting projects. We actually delivered a Goliath crane here already in 1976 and I am proud to see that the recently made modernization has extended its lifetime. But I am also very proud of the new high-tech gantry crane we have delivered now. It is equipped with the latest technology and has several features built in to optimize the use of the crane. I wish Meyer Turku all the best and am sure that our cranes will help you to build more and even bigger ships in the future,” added Panu Routila, president and CEO, Konecranes

Even with the delivery of the new crane, the old crane will continue in operation, the yard said.

“We are really rebuilding the yard into a modern, data driven ship assembly factory with these investments. But new machinery is not enough, we are constantly both recruiting new shipbuilders and training our old teams to get out as much as possible from these new facilities,” Meyer added.