PhilaPort received its two new super post-Panamax cranes at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal on March 24, 2018, after a 90-day delivery from Shanghai, China.
The cranes, ordered by the port in December 2017, were manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) and cost $12 million each.
The purchases are part of Governor Tom Wolf’s $300 million Port Development Plan, announced in November 2016, to increase cargo-handling capacity and efficiency.
The size of vessels visiting the port has increased exponentially in the last decade, creating a new class of container ships known as ULCVs (Ultra Large Container Vessel) with up to 20,000 container capacity.
Once such ship was the M/V MSC Shuba B, which visited Philaport in the winter of 2017, featuring a 12,200 TEU capacity.
Read the “Tie-Down Design Considerations: STS Container Cranes” for information on the structural integrity of STS cranes and tie-down systems
Executive Director and CEO of PhilaPort, Jeff Theobald said: “For over a year we have been working hard to prepare the terminal for these cranes and it is great to see them here.
Last year we hit an East Coast record of 19% container growth. To sustain that type of growth, these new cranes are a necessity.”
Governor Tom Wolf said “The arrival of the cranes is a perfect example of public/private investment into the State’s critical infrastructure.
Every transportation professional knows how important speed to market is to logistics.
These new cranes will ensure that we keep pace with other U.S. seaports and allow PhilaPort to load and discharge cargo with state-of-the-art equipment.”
Two more identical cranes will be added by Philaport in the first quarter of 2019, plus an additional crane at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal – bringing the total number of cranes at the terminal to 7.
