Philadelphia had a big winter with the Eagles winning the Super Bowl and Villanova winning the NCAA basketball crown. Here’s more big news: an extraordinary video of two “post- Panamax” gantry cranes delivered to the Port of Philadelphia. Post-Panamax refers to the mega-ship that can navigate the wider Panama Canal.
My sailing buddy John Alewynse alerted me to the story because his son Leen, who is a tugboat captain for the port, was assigned to turn the ship around in the Delaware River so they could get the cranes off properly. Note the use of three large tugboats. It only takes two to handle a US Navy warship at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. God only know how they will get the cranes dockside.
It’s part of a $300 million expansion of the Philadelphia port to increase cargo-handling and efficiency. Two more identical cranes are due in early next year. With their arms extended to the sky, they will stand 13 feet taller than the nearby Walt Whitman Bridge.
The larger cranes can more efficiently offload the latest Ultra Large Container Vessels, which can handle up to 20,000 containers the size of a tractor trailer. The new container gantry cranes will be capable of discharging containers from the new larger vessels more quickly than their smaller counterparts. Each cost $12 million, which seems like a bargain.
Post-Panamax Crane Stats
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Crane height [boom up]: 391 ft.
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Apex of crane [height; boom down]: 252 ft.
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32 stories high [boom up]
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Weight of crane: 3,368,659 lbs.
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Cost per crane: $12 million
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Crane vessel: Zhen Hua 16 (1982)
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91 Days transit time. Source: Port of Philadelphia
Siblings Sail the York
Alex Soulas of Richmond took his younger brother and sister sailing on the York River on the last cold day of spring.
