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Long-awaited cargo container cranes arrive
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
After traveling 15,000 miles from Shanghai, China, a ship loaded with four massive new container cranes costing more than $35 million sailed up the Wando River to deliver its cargo to the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant.
The Zhen Hua 19, which departed Shanghai in early January and traveled around the southern tip of Africa, arrived in Charleston on March 19, first anchored off Sullivan’s Island before making its way up the Charleston Harbor.
The cranes, which collectively weigh 2.9 million pounds and have an operating out reach of 196 feet, will be about 33% faster to operate, enhancing the port’s ability to efficiently off-load the larger ships that have begun calling on Charleston, said Byron Miller, a spokesman for the S.C. State Ports Authority.
They operate solely off electric power, replacing four older, diesel-electric models. They use power when lifting, but generate back into the system when lowering. Of the 21 cranes in the port’s fleet, 20 are all-electric, which have eliminated emissions and provided an environmental benefit, Miller said.
“This is an enhancement to our terminals that makes both economic and environmental sense,” Miller said as the slow-moving steamship made its way into Charleston Harbor.
Two of the cranes will be installed at the Wando Welch Terminal, and two are going to the North Charleston Terminal. The SPA tried to sell two aging cranes at the Wando terminal to make room for the new arrivals, but had no takers.
“That’s not really a surprise, given their age and the fact steamships just keep getting bigger and bigger, making them obsolete,” Miller said.
Though no firm plans have been made for those cranes, Miller suggested that they’ll likely be sold for scrap.
Once the cranes are moved onto the terminal, engineers will raise their booms, finalize construction and run tests on the equipment. The cranes should be fully operational within 90 days, Miller said.
The SPA purchased the cranes in September 2005. They represent the largest single equipment purchase in the SPA’s history, and were paid for through the authority’s budget without the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, Miller said.
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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