Liebherr Loaders Handle Animal Feed at Port of Leith

Leith is the largest enclosed deepwater port in Scotland and is a modern, efficient maritime facility for cruise liners and, because of its ideal location and configuration, is a major cargo handling centre with easy access to Continental Europe. Materials handling is a vital part of the operations, in order to ensure the smooth flow of a wide variety of bulk cargos whilst maintaining the integrity, cleanliness and quality of each commodity. Leith has a long association with grain and bulk animal feeds, cereals for the milling of flour and distillation of whisky and bulk aggregates. Port of Leith has recently added two Liebherr L 556_2plus2 wheeled loaders to its modern fleet of materials handlers, specifically to load and stockpile large volumes of biomass bulk products.  Goods include wheat, soya, sugar beet pellets, oil seed rape, aggregates, maize and sunflower seeds - all of which are subjected to a rigorous quality assurance system and constant monitoring during storage and handling.

Animal feed is usually discharged at North Side Imperial Dock which is served by five quayside cranes, supported by high capacity hoppers to ensure discharge efficiency and minimal cargo loss during unloading; additional grab cranage of smaller shipments is located on the South Side Imperial Dock. The discharged feed is transported to modern custom-built flat storage with a covered area totalling 14,000m² and which is conveniently close to the unloading berths. The Liebherr loaders are employed in this storage area, stockpiling with a quick-hitch mounted grain pusher and loading the products into high-sided grain bulkers using a high-tip bucket. The quick-hitch feature on these machines facilitates fast and simple attachment change without the operator having to leave the cab.

The Liebherr L 556_2plus2 is an articulated, hydrostatically driven wheeled loader in the 17 tonnes class, with a tipping load of 13,140kg. Power is supplied by a Liebherr engine which develops 140kW and the high-tip bucket capacity is 5.0m³. The hydrostatic driveline system on the loader not only contributes to considerable fuel consumption benefits but also, with limited slip differential in both front and rear axles, produces good efficient pushing power when stockpiling whilst, at the same time, prolonging tyre life. An automatic greasing system is standard and greatly contributes to reducing maintenance time.

The L 556_2plus2 has a high level, isolated cooling system which is equipped with an automatically reversing fan to maintain radiator cleanliness and efficiency in the understandably dusty environment. The customer has set the loaders to 5 minute delays between fan reversals and finds that these intervals keep the radiators relatively dust-free and maintain cooling efficiency.

For operational safety, both L 556_2plus2 loaders have been supplied with rear-view cameras and in-cab colour screens, together with weighload systems. The rear bumper bar has crash protection.

For further information, please contact:          
Liebherr-Great Britain Limited
Telephone: 01767-602100
Fax: 01767-602110