The tunnelling machines from Herrenknecht AG, Schwanau-Allmannsweier, are always tailored to the task at hand and its geological and hydrological conditions. In 2010, Herrenknecht was awarded the contract to build a tunnel boring machine (TBM) to construct a traffic tunnel in the Port of Miami, the "Port of Miami Tunnel". This is because almost 16,000 vehicles clog the roads to and from the cruise and freight harbour in Miami every day. Herrenknecht's solution is a TBM of the earth pressure shield type. The entire machine weighs 2,500 tonnes and is 110 metres long.
While all TBMs are custom-built, what they all have in common is that they are usually in operation almost continuously from the day they are commissioned until the breakthrough, which places high demands on load resistance, including with regard to the energy supply systems. These are needed because a whole range of different crane systems are used in the tunnelling machine for a wide variety of tasks. These are so-called material cranes, which transport pipes, cable drums and other workshop equipment from the supply vehicles to the respective work site, for example. These pipe-laying, cable drum and workshop cranes play an extremely important role in the overall process. They are responsible for the respective supplies. A workshop or belt material crane is used to extend the conveyor belt.