Teufelberger-Redaelli provides support in the port of Beirut after the explosion

The explosion destroyed large parts of the port and caused great damage in the city itself. The Beirut Container Terminal (BCTC) is in the immediate vicinity of the explosion site. Continuing regular operations were unthinkable without a detailed inspection of the steel wire ropes, type Evolution QS816V, from Teufelberger-Redaelli.

The Beirut Container Terminal is of vital importance for the region, as around 90% of the supply to the entire region is handled through this port. Fast, competent support was therefore necessary. After extensive remote preliminary discussions with the customer and the crane manufacturer, it was clear that the Teufelberger-Redaelli application engineers had to assess the situation on site. “Of course we were aware of the difficult travel and working conditions, but our top priority is always our customer, who needs to be helped as quickly as possible”. For Michael Nowicki, application engineer at Teufelberger-Redaelli, there was no question about flying to Beirut in person.

The twelve harbor cranes were out of service at the time of arrival. A detailed inspection by the rope experts from Teufelberger-Redaelli was only possible to a limited extent on site, as the crane booms could not be lowered for a rope inspection for safety reasons. Due to the undefinable condition of the rope end terminations, the operator decided that all end terminations should be renewed. The rather rare version of lug sockets had to be procured at great expense. After more than two months of downtime, Teufelberger-Redaelli was able to carry out the safety-relevant rope checks, the cranes could be put back into operation and the ships could be handled with full capacity.  

Adib Meouchi, project leader of The Beirut Container Terminal Consortium, is enthusiastic about the support from Teufelberger-Redaelli: “After the heavy explosion in the Port of Beirut which had an impact on our ship to shore cranes we are grateful for Teufelberger-Redaelli`s cooperation. The technical inspection and the repair-service of damaged end-connections helped us to bring our capacities back to operation.Needless to say this is exceptional service these days while Covid-19 is limiting our daily business life.”

Once again, Teufelberger-Redaelli was able to demonstrate expertise, reliability and flexibility even in a critical situation according to the motto “Expect more”.