Energy chains, cables and heavy-duty bearings for port and intermodal cranes

Durable and networked products for long travels and high loads.

**Why should I use an energy chain for cable guidance on the crane?**With heavy cable loads, long periods of use and a wide variety of weather conditions, cable guidance in cranes must deliver top performance. The energy chain for port and intermodal cranes scores here with corrosion- and maintenance-free materials and a long service life.
Energy chains therefore prove to be particularly reliable cable guides in places where deadlines are tight but operational safety still has priority. The low-maintenance and quiet energy chains can prove their worth, especially compared to busbar systems, festoonings and motorised drums. Therefore, more than 10,000 ports already rely on the system.
On this page you will find an overview of our energy chains, cables, sensors as well as our maintenance-free and lubrication-free bearing technology for port and intermodal cranes.

What you will find on this page

Energy chains for cranes

Safe energy supply systems especially for cranes: from medium travels on RTG or RMG cranes to high loads and travel lengths of up to 1,000 metres.

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Cables for cranes

Tested, UL-certified and UV-resistant cables with service life guarantee for very long travels and tight bend radii on cranes.

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Heavy-duty bearings for cranes

Lubrication-free and maintenance-free heavy-duty and fibre composite plain bearings for the undercarriage and other highly stressed bearing points on cranes.

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Sensor technology for cranes

Prevent costly and time-consuming crane breakdowns by using networked products with sensors for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

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Energy chains for harbour cranes and intermodal cranes

Unplanned downtimes must not occur at any time on harbour or intermodal cranes. This places special responsibility on the cable guide on the crane. This is because a break in the trailing cable, the cable guided in an energy chain or a defect in the cable guide itself will inevitably bring the crane operation to a standstill.
At the same time, these systems must be able to handle heavy loads over travels of over 1,000 metres without any problems.
Such risks can be minimised with special energy chains for cranes. Thanks to the development of specialised solutions such as the roller energy chains, even very long travels are possible with low drive power. This also reduces wear and maintenance costs. And thanks to optional sensor technology, the safety of the chain and cable can be further increased.

P4HD - The e-chain with the longest service life

The advanced P4HD energy chain has been developed for the next generation of container cranes. The rol e-chain® is suitable for very long travels with high dynamics. Thanks to optional sensors (i.Sense and i.Cee), failures can be prevented before they happen.

Find out more about the P4HD

Energy chain sample

Request a sample today: P4HD.56R

We want 15 years of service life for e-chains on cranes. This can be found in our development goals and specifications for the P4HD family.

Find out more here

Find out more here

P4.1 - The universal energy chain

The P4.1 is suitable for long travels of over 1,000 metres and for high additional loads. Thanks to the option of adding sensors (i.Sense and i.Cee) for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of the chain, operational safety is further increased.

Find out more about the P4.1

Sensors and accessories for energy chains

Sensor technology for energy chains and cables

Sensors for energy chains

Avoid costly failures with condition monitoring and predictive maintenance on the energy chain
Measurement of push/pull forces, wear rates, acceleration and more

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How sensor technology strengthens STS cranes

In this exclusive case study with crane operator EMO B.V., the use of sensor technology in STS cranes at the port of Rotterdam is presented. With the help of sensor technology, the cranes now achieve running performances of up to 375,000 kilometres.

Find out more here

Guide troughs

Available in stainless steel or aluminium for seawater resistance according to EN6060 and weight reduction
Also available as cost-effective and corrosion-free plastic trough

Find out more about guide troughs

"chainfix CFXL" clamps

For the relief of heavily stressed cables
Strain relief even for hoses and cables with large diameters
Easy to retrofit in the energy chain

Find out more about chainfix CFXL

Floating moving end

To compensate for long travels
Small, light and cost-effective
Compatible with isense EC.P
Can be combined with various energy chains

Find out more about the floating moving end

The future of STS cranes and the energy chains

Triple-E container ships and STS cranes

STS cranes are changing. This is because ever larger container ships (Triple-E) will require even larger cranes in the future. You can find out exactly how this will affect STS cranes and the energy chain here.

Find out more here

Find out more here

Cables for harbour cranes and intermodal cranes

Cables that run in the energy chain on the crane are subject to high mechanical stress, just like trailing cables. The long travels and tight bend radii inevitably lead to cable stress. For this reason, we test our chainflex cables in 700 experiments each day in our in-house test laboratory. This enables us to issue a 4-year guarantee on all cables. Incidentally, all our TPE cables come with UL approval and are UV-resistant.

chainflex control cables CF9 and CF10

Thanks to the different number of cores, diameters and outer jacket materials, our control cable range offers the stability required for long travels on cranes.
Discover control cable CF9 | Discover control cable CF10

Discover all control cables

chainflex motor cables CF37/38, CF330/340

Motor cables must also always operate reliably and without failure. For example, when supplying the hoist on crane systems over long travels, under high mechanical stress and outside temperatures from -40° to +50°.
Discover CF37 | Discover CF38 | Discover CF330 | Discover CF340

Discover all motor cables

chainflex fibre optic cable CFLG.LB

Available in various mechanical versions, you will always find the right fibre optic cable for your crane application. We supply in various OM classes and fibre diameters.
Discover fibre optic cables CFLG.LB

Discover all fibre optic cables

chainflex data cable CF11

The CF11 data cable can be used for long travels of over 400 metres without any problems. Together with its UV resistance and high load limit, this makes it particularly suitable for outdoor applications such as on cranes.
Discover the CF11 data cable

Discover all data cables

UL-certified

We also offer a UL (Underwriters Laboratories) cable for every chainflex cable type.

UV-resistant

Suitable for outdoor applications: our cables are all UV-resistant.

Guarantee

Thanks to our daily laboratory tests at chainflex cables, we offer a 4-year guarantee without hesitation.

Learn more

Discover all cables

High-load bearings for harbour cranes and intermodal cranes

igutex composite plain bearings consist of a robust glass fibre fabric as outer shell and an inner layer optimised for optimum friction behaviour. This makes them suitable for high loads and yet they are lubrication-free and maintenance-free. This means that maintenance costs and the risk of incorrect lubrication can be avoided.

Discover all heavy-duty bearings

Heavy-duty bearings in detail

Heavy Duty brochure

What materials are available for heavy-duty bearings? How does igutex save bearing lubrication? And what do the load tests in the laboratory show? Find out all this and more in our Heavy Duty brochure.

▶ Find out more here

User report: Lubrication-free bearing in RTG chassis
Tan Cang Gantry relies on TX1 high-load bearings from the igutex range in the bogies of its RTG cranes. The TX1 bushings allow a surface pressure of up to 200MPa. This gives the engineers at Tan Cang Gantry more flexibility in the design. At the same time, the resistance on the shaft is minimised, thus increasing the service life.

Go to user report

Sensor technology for harbour cranes and intermodal cranes

Sensors on the energy chain or the cables on the crane guarantee a high degree of safety and reliability, especially on long travels. On large structures and long energy chains, a cable break or defect in the energy chain is not quickly detected. Added to this is the maintenance time. On busy container terminals in particular, such failures can quickly become very costly. Such problems can be avoided with the i.Sense and i.Cee sensors for monitoring and predictive maintenance of the chain or cable.

i.Sense condition monitoring

The smart condition monitoring sensors from i.Sense are used to permanently monitor the operating status of moving components and can fulfil different functions depending on the application. In energy chains, they are used to monitor the <a 0="[" 1="o" 2="b" 3="j" 4="e" 5="c" 6="t" 7=" " 8="O" 9="b" 10="j" 11="e" 12="c" 13="t" 14="]" href="de-de/website/smart-maintenance/condition-monitoring/zustandsueberwachung-ec-p" uuid="462dbae7-87ae-480c-aab2-f6bb5bc277ab" target="_self">push/pull forces (i.Sense EC.P) and to identify <a 0="[" 1="o" 2="b" 3="j" 4="e" 5="c" 6="t" 7=" " 8="O" 9="b" 10="j" 11="e" 12="c" 13="t" 14="]" href="de-de/website/smart-maintenance/condition-monitoring/zustandsueberwachung-ec-b" uuid="1ad07707-9185-4a23-913b-ef280b57320c" target="_self">chain breakages at an early stage (i.Sense EC.B).

Find out more about i.Sense

i.Cee predictive maintenance

i.Cee sensors continuously measure the clearance between the pin and the hole in a chain link. Together with the movement data of the system, the expected remaining service life of an energy chain is determined. If necessary,a warning is then automatically issued to replace or repair the chain. The result: More safety, lower costs.

Find out more about i.Cee

Application examples. Here customers trust in energy chains.

In the video, those responsible at the Port of Virginia explain why the port is relying on the energy chain for its new STS cranes. After equipping eight STS cranes with e-chains in one project, maintenance costs were reduced to a minimum while durability increased. Or as Jeff Johnston, in charge of maintenance at the Port of Virginia, summarises:

"[...] reliability, easy maintenance and peace of mind."

Jeff Johnston, Manager Crane Maintenance Port of Virginia

White paper on requirements for STS cranes

And many more success stories ...

STS, ASC, RTG, RMG, shipyard crane, indoor crane. Our energy chains can be used practically anywhere. We will show you what this can look like in practice using selected success stories:

User reports: Harbour and intermodal cranes
User reports: Indoor cranes
User reports: Shipyard cranes
User reports: Bulk goods cranes

▶ Click here for all success stories

System comparison - e-chain vs. festooning, motorised cable reel and busbar system

Energy chains systems instead of festooning

Energy chain system instead of festooning

In wind and fluctuating temperatures, cables are protected and safely guided by energy chains. Downtimes are minimised as a result.

More about the festooning alternative

Energy chain systems instead of motorised cable reels

energy chain system instead of motorised cable reel

Without slip ring on long travel distances. Guide all media safely in one system. Travel distances up to 1,000 metres.

More about the motorised cable reel alternative

Energy chain systems instead of busbar systems

energy chain system instead of busbar system

Fail-safe routing of data, energy, liquids and air in an energy chain system. For tight, compact spaces and fast aisle travel.

More about the busbar system alternative

Tested for use on cranes - in the industry's largest test laboratory

With travels of several hundred metres, we don't want to leave anything to chance. Our energy chains and cables are therefore subjected to daily endurance tests on special test rigs for industries such as the crane sector. For example, on our outdoor test facility with a simulated travel distance of up to 400m for our roller energy chains and chainflex cables. Here you can find out more about our test laboratory.