First Lift from YM Shanghai at 1:05 p.m. April 9

Four new container cranes at the Port of Wilmington began their working lives April 9, loading and unloading containers from the Yang Ming Marine Transport vessel YM Shanghai. Crane 14 made the first lift, unloading a Yang Ming box at 1:05 p.m.

The 100-foot-gauge cranes arrived at the Port Feb. 3 after a two-month journey from the facilities of the Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. in Shanghai, where they were built. Minor damage resulting from a collision with a dredge as they were being delivered has been repaired, and the cranes' commissioning is on schedule.

The YM Shanghai docked at 10 a.m. Monday. Nearly 1,200 containers will be loaded or unloaded during its approximately 18-hour port call.

Linchpins of the Wilmington container terminal expansion, the cranes can load 18 containers across a ship, compared to a maximum of 13 for the four existing container cranes. Of the $33.2 million purchase price, $14.1 million was funded by appropriations from the N.C. General Assembly.

“The cranes are the key components of Wilmington's five-year, $143 million container terminal expansion,” said Thomas J. Eagar, CEO of the North Carolina State Ports Authority. “With the 42-foot shipping channel, berth improvements, new reach stackers and new cranes, the Port of Wilmington's expansion program over the next three years will nearly triple our capacity based on current volumes. Additional improvements in terminal operations and more open paved storage areas will boost the capacity of Wilmington's container terminal to 400,000 20-foot equivalent units annually.”

In addition to the new cranes, nine SMV reach stackers, with a price of $3.8 million, joined the Port of Wilmington's fleet in 2005. The container-handling machines can stack containers five high, allowing maximum storage in a minimum footprint.

Upgrades to the Port's two container-ship berths, 8 and 9, included the addition of 100-foot gauge crane rail at Berth 9, finished in December by T.A. Loving of Goldsboro, N.C., at a cost of $4.3 million. Another $3.9 million of improvements to the existing waterside rail and the fendering system was completed in March by Precon Construction of Chesapeake, Va.

The power-distribution system for the cranes, which unlike the current diesel cranes run on commercial power, cost $3.2 million and was installed by King Electric of Fayetteville, N.C., at the end of January.

“These infrastructure improvements, which took more than a year to complete, will be able to accommodate these four 100-foot gauge cranes, capable of handling the largest ships that can navigate the Cape Fear River's 42-foot channel,” Mr. Eagar said, "and four more if we need them."

N.C. State Ports Authority Cranes No. 12, 14, 15 and 16

Lifting Capacity: 65-tons spreader bar/
75 tons hook beam
Outreach: 165 feet, or 18 containers
Backreach: 133 feet
Containers above deck: 7
Rail Gauge: 100 feet
Height: 235 feet working
345 feet boom stowed
Width between legs: 90 feet
Length (boom extended): 430 feet Weight: 1,380 tons apiece
Price: $33.2 million (4)
Ordered: September 2005
Departed Shanghai: Dec. 2, 2006
Arrived Wilmington: Feb. 3, 2007
Completed Unloading: Feb. 12, 2007
Testing, Certification and Commissioning Completed: April 2007
First Lift: April 9, 2007

Built by: Zhenhua Port Machinery Co., Shanghai.
Consulting Engineers: Shaw GBB
Installation subcontractor for ZPMC: Global Rigging & Transport

Click the thumbnail schematic drawing for details about the cranes, including measurements:

• 100 feet between the legs
• 165-foot outreach (the boom that goes over the ship to lift containers off)
• 235 feet tall with the boom down in the working position and 345 feet with the boom up in its stowed position 

Click the thumbnail conceptual drawing to see how the Port of Wilmington's container yard expansion will look including the four new cranes, shown at the right. Notice the width of the 100-foot gauge rails and the distance between the legs of the new cranes, compared to the existing four cranes on 50-foot gauge rail.