Spotted: PhilaPort Welcomes Super Post-Panamax Cranes 

PhilaPort received its first two super post-Panamax cranes at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal after their ninety-day journey on board crane vessel Zhen Hua 16 from Shanghai, China.

Manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), the new cranes will be 13 feet (4 meters) taller than the neighboring Walt Whitman Bridge with its boom in the upwards position.

The cranes were bought by PhilaPort and Packer Avenue Marine Terminal’s operator Astro Holdings as part of Governor Tom Wolf’s USD 300 million Port Development Plan to increase cargo-handling capacity and efficiency to meet the vessel size growth over the past decade. Each crane has cost USD 12 million.

The new container gantry cranes are capable of discharging containers from Ultra Large Container Vessel (ULCVs) ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 TEU container capacity.

Crane specifications:

• Cranes height [boom up]: 391 ft.
• APEX of crane [height; boom down]: 252 ft.
• 32 stories high [boom up]
• 21 stories high [boom down]
• Weight of each crane: 3,368,659 lbs. (1,528 metric tons)

“For over a year we have been working hard to prepare the terminal for these cranes and it is great to see them here,” Jeff Theobald, Executive Director and CEO of PhilaPort, said.

“Last year we hit an East Coast record of 19 pct container growth. To sustain that type of growth, these new cranes are a necessity.”

“The cranes allow us to handle more cargo from bigger ships, and since we’re already setting records for cargo growth at Packer, the cranes are arriving not a moment too soon,” Tom Holt, Jr., President of Astro Holdings, the Packer Avenue terminal operator, said.

In the first quarter of 2019, PhilaPort plans to add two more identical cranes and Astro Holdings another one crane at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, bringing the total number of cranes at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal to seven.

Image and Video Courtesy: PhilaPort/iSky Images