An unexpected summer thunderstorm three years ago led to two new $10 million cranes being delivered to the Blount Island Marine Terminal recently.
The 1,050-ton pieces of machinery, used to load and unload cargo from ships at the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Blount Island Marine Terminal, are scheduled to be operational this fall.
They will replace two cranes that were destroyed during a storm in August 2008, when one of the cranes rolled down the tracks, without an operator on board, and collided with another crane down the docks.
The cranes move up and down the docks on rails.
“It was just a freak thunderstorm that brought some intense wind,” said Nancy Rubin, JPA director of communications.
“We are thankful that the accident happened during lunch, because no one was up in the cranes,” she said.
Besides no injuries, the other good news from the accident was that the port’s insurance policy covered the replacement of cranes that were 15-20 years old. The new cranes cost $10 million each.
One of the port’s tenants said the cranes mean business.
“The first question when customers call on a port is ‘How many cranes do you have?’” said Michael Shaffner, general manager of operations for APM Terminals, a tenant at the Blount Island terminal.
“The new cranes are the latest and greatest. They allow us to move cargo faster and more efficiently, which allows us to serve our existing customers better and attract new customers,” he said.
The new cranes have a longer reach — a 145-foot front reach and 75-foot back reach — than their predecessors and they can lift 10 more tons, or a total of 50 tons.
The cranes were constructed over 10 months and were specifically designed and constructed to fit under the JEA power cables.
The cranes were delivered fully assembled on a ship designed by ZPMC, the Chinese company that made the equipment.
They could be delivered in pieces, but the port wanted them delivered as close to operational as possible, said Rubin.
The ship transporting the cranes left China June 6 and arrived last week. The specially designed ship was too wide to fit through the Panama or Suez canals, so it traveled around the Horn of Africa and stopped in Panama to drop off four other cranes.
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