It took two-and-a-half months to make the 17,000-mile ocean trek from China, but three electric container cranes arrived Friday at Blount Island Marine Terminal.
The 100-gauge cranes are able to service wider vessels, with the ability to reach across 22 containers. The cranes now used at JaxPort can reach across 16 containers. The new cranes will be operational by year-end.
The port received a $15 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation toward the $37.6 million purchase.
JaxPort CEO Brian Taylor said the cranes are a critical step toward the facility supporting “the ever-larger ships calling on the port through the Suez Canal as well as the newly expanded Panama Canal.”
The port plans to add 10 of the cranes at Blount Island in the next decade.