Port of Oakland’s largest terminal gets three giant cranes in fall

More evidence that West Coast ports are investing in infrastructure surfaced with the announcement that three cranes able to load the world’s largest container ships will soon be headed to the Port of Oakland.  

Shanghai-based manufacturer ZPMC said this week that construction of the ship-to-shore behemoths is nearing completion in China. 

This news comes in the wake of a report that West Coast ports’ market share has declined 19.4 percent since 2006.

According to a new briefing paper released by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, ports are also encouraged to avoid complacency.

The cranes are due at Oakland International Container Terminal Sept. 14, according to terminal operator SSA Terminals.  At 300-feet-high, it’s believed they’d be the tallest in North America when they commence operations in January. 

“As ships keep getting bigger, SSA and ZPMC continue to help us keep ahead of the industry,” said Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan.  “We’re very excited and grateful for the partnership.”

ZPMC and SSA updated maritime executives on the new cranes this week at a meeting of the Propeller Club.  Here are the vital statistics:

• The cranes can lift containers 174 feet above the dock, enabling them to stack boxes 12-high on ships.
• They can reach 125 feet across a ship's deck, spanning 24 rows of containers.
• They'll be delivered by ship and require five days to be transferred from vessel to dock.

SSA operates the largest marine terminal at the Port of Oakland. Terminals are where ships are loaded and unloaded and where freight haulers pick up or drop off containerized cargo. Ultra large container vessels can carry up to 24,000 20-foot containers.  ZPMC and SSA said Oakland’s new cranes were designed to load and unload ships that big.  SSA placed a $30 million order for its new cranes in February 2019. In 2018, it completed a project to raise the height of four other ship-to-shore cranes.