Barge-mounted Sennebogen 6300 E builds Incheon container wharf

Stage 1-2 of a five-million-TEU port

Incheon New Port, 40 km west of Seoul, is being expanded under the Incheon New Port Stage 1-2 project to take larger container ships and higher volumes. The completed terminal is expected to lift the port’s handling capacity to five million TEU by 2030.

Gwan-Ak Co., Ltd was appointed to carry out the dredging and to build the lower structure of the Stage 1-2 container wharf. Founded in 1998 and listed on the Korea New Exchange since 2015, the company works in underwater construction, dredging, reinforced concrete, earthworks, scaffolding dismantling and boring grouting.

Working off the deck

Sitting on a barge in the Yellow Sea, the 6300 E takes over once dredging is finished. From the water it lifts and positions the heavy concrete formwork moulds used to form the port apron. The moulds are set in place, assembled and then filled with concrete. The crane works around eight hours a day, with the programme sometimes dictated by weather.

The 6300 is the largest duty cycle crane in the Sennebogen range, with lifting capacities up to 300 tonnes – enough headroom that the mould lifts are routine rather than marginal. For this application it is mounted on a 2.5 m pedestal.

A new crane in a second-hand market

Sennebogen sales and service partner KILWOO Co. Ltd recommended the machine on the basis of load capacity, suitability for the project and the manufacturer’s track record. Delivered in 2023 and assembled in South Korea, it is Gwan-Ak’s first crane bought for its own use – a departure from normal practice in the Korean market, where offshore cranes tend to be 20 to 30 years old, second-hand and often imported from Japan.

“SENNEBOGEN duty cycle cranes are renowned for their high performance and reliability. With safe working loads of up to 300 tonnes, the SENNEBOGEN 6300 E is especially well-suited for heavy lifting operations. Additionally, the customer appreciates its easy maintenance and accessibility of spare parts.”

— J.H. Choi, sales manager, KILWOO Co., Ltd

For a contractor whose work moves between dredging, concrete and underwater construction, buying rather than hiring a new heavy rope crane is a bet on utilisation across several phases of the same contract – and on parts being available when a barge-mounted machine cannot simply be driven off site for repair.