MV Patricia christened at Rostock with twin 800-tonne Liebherr ship cranes

The naming ceremony, held at the Liebherr site on the Baltic coast, drew more than 350 guests including customers, partners, suppliers and representatives of the Harren Group and Liebherr, together with the project teams and the ship’s officers and crew. Patricia Rüf, member of the administrative board at Liebherr-International AG, acted as godmother and gave the vessel her name, following the maritime tradition of wishing the ship safe voyages and dependable service.

“When I look at the MV Patricia, I see far more than a vessel ready for service. I see the knowledge, dedication and passion of the many people whose efforts have shaped her journey. The ORCA fleet is a powerful example of what can be achieved when companies share a common vision and the ambition to push boundaries together.”

— Patricia Rüf, Member of the administrative board, Liebherr-International AG

Electric cranes tied into the ship’s power network

The two LS 800 E cranes are the heart of the vessel’s cargo-handling system. Beyond their headline capacity, the cranes are integrated with the ship’s power-management system so that their energy demand can be coordinated with other onboard consumers. Energy recovered during crane movements is fed back into the vessel’s electrical network, stored and reused when demand rises – an arrangement intended to make better use of available onboard power and cut fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions during cargo-handling cycles.

Liebherr’s Litronic control system handles load movements, while the electric drives and key components are arranged and protected for maritime duty. Liebherr service teams will support the cranes along the vessel’s trading routes with maintenance planning, diagnostics and spare-parts coordination.

The Orca class was developed by SAL around heavy-lift, offshore, renewable-energy and industrial transport work, with a multipurpose configuration that lets lifting, stowage and voyage plans be adapted to individual cargoes – from single heavy components to multi-port project shipments. During the design phase, Liebherr worked with the vessel designers on crane integration, electrical architecture and control functions, continuing a relationship between the two companies that goes back more than 30 years.

“The Orca Class was conceived for the next 30 years of heavy-lift shipping, with the flexibility, efficiency and performance required by our customers’ evolving projects. Naming this vessel Patricia reflects the close relationship between our companies and our appreciation for everyone who has supported this ambitious programme.”

— Dr Martin Harren, Owner and CEO, Harren Group

Leaving Rostock with cranes as cargo

Fittingly, MV Patricia’s first departure from Rostock is itself a crane shipment. On board are an LHM 800 mobile harbour crane bound for Luanda, Angola, and an LPS 550 portal crane destined for Casablanca, Morocco – bringing together three branches of Liebherr’s maritime crane portfolio on a single voyage: the ship cranes on deck, the mobile harbour crane and the portal crane in the hold.