The Port of Savannah has acquired four Super Post-Panamax ship-to-shore (STS) cranes from Konecranes, increasing the crane fleet at Garden City Terminal to 34 units.
Griff Lynch, Georgia Ports Authority President and CEO, said: “Along with the completion of our project to improve Berth 1, these cranes will help deliver faster turn times to our ocean carrier customers, including the largest vessels calling on the US East Coast.
“No other terminal in the nation can bring more cranes to bear, or match the efficiency, productivity and global connectivity of the Port of Savannah.”
When fully erected, two of the cranes will stand 295 feet tall and the other two will be 306 feet tall.
The cranes’ reach will be 22 and 24 containers broad, respectively. The taller cranes will be unloaded at Garden City Terminal’s Berth 1, while the others will be put at the terminal’s upriver end, at Berth 9.
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The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) received a previous batch of four cranes in February to work the recently renovated Berth 1, which is now capable of serving vessels with a capacity of 16,000+ TEU.
According to reports, the cranes and enhanced dock boost Garden City Terminal berth productivity by 25 per cent, giving the terminal a yearly capacity of 1.5 million TEU.
The new equipment is part of GPA’s $1.9 billion infrastructure upgrade plan to meet future supply chain demands.
Stacy Watson, Director of Economic and Industrial Development at GPA, stated: “The ratio of GPA’s economic impact equates to roughly one job per nine TEU moved. By expanding our annual capacity by 3 million TEU over the next three years, GPA is also increasing its job-supporting capability by more than 300,000 jobs for Georgians.”
In March 2023, GPA agreed to spend $170 million on 55 hybrid-engine rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) to outfit the Port of Savannah’s Ocean Terminal.
