Eurogate-Blog

The technicians and engineers from EUROGATE Technical Services, in close cooperation with the facility’s crane operators, have fitted out the 305 container cranes located in the Hamburg terminal with LED lamps. As a result, the energy consumption of the cranes has been dramatically reduced. Now, since December 2016, the cranes only consume about a quarter of the electrical power compared to the lamps used previously. “Our primary goal was to save energy,” says engineer Markus Schulz.

In collaboration with the LED manufacturer Phoenix, an initial 16 LED lamps were installed on the boom, four on the trolley and six on the gantry. All in all, the new lamps consume just 7,700 Watts of electricity per hour. Traditional sodium vapour lamps, in contrast, require 36,000 Watts per hour. At an average running time of 2,500 hours per year, this results in annual savings in the five-digit range. Put in perspective: the energy saved would be sufficient to supply 16 four-person households with electricity for an entire year. Thanks to the much longer lifespan of LEDs compared to conventional light bulbs (by 5,000 as compared to 50,000 hours), the service life of the new LED lamps is longer, with reduced maintenance costs.

The energy-saving project was seen as a joint task between Technical Services and Operations from day one. “We crane operators were brought on board from the very beginning and were able to explain our needs and desires,” says crane operator and device coordinator Mike Dehnerdt. In addition to the energy savings, the project centred on collecting further experience with LED technology and on optimising the lighting of the working areas. To create synergies and achieve the best-possible results, meetings with other specialist departments in which experiences and information are exchanged regularly take place in Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven.

Learn more about sustainable business activities of EUROGATE and watch this movie.