PORT OF SAVANNAH RECEIVES FOUR NEW ELECTRIC SHIP-TO-SHORE CRANES

The Port of Savannah announced that it recently received four Super Post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes, upgrading the crane fleet to 34 machines at Garden City Terminal after four older cranes were retired and recycled.

 

Griff Lynch, president and CEO of Georgia Ports Authority, said along with the completion of the project to improve Berth 1, these cranes will help deliver faster turn times to 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," Lynch said.

 

Designed by Konecranes of Finland, the all-electric cranes arrived on the vessel BigLift Barentsz.

 

Two of the cranes will be 295 feet tall, and two will be 306 feet tall at the highest point when fully assembled.

 

The GPA noted that the reach of the cranes will be 22 and 24 containers wide, respectively.

 

It said that the taller cranes would be offloaded at Berth 1 at Garden City Terminal, and the others would be installed on the upriver end of the terminal at Berth 9.

 

GPA said ship-to-shore cranes are the "workhorses" of container port operations, unloading and loading cargo from the container ships that call on the port.

 

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+ twenty-foot equivalent container units.

 

The cranes and improved dock increase Garden City Terminal berth productivity by 25% or 1.5 million TEUs of annual capacity.

 

GPA said the new equipment is part of its US$1.9 billion infrastructure improvement plan to keep pace with future supply chain needs.