As the Dockwise heavy equipment carrier Teal approached the Talmadge Bridge Wednesday, it looked from ground level as if its cargo wouldn’t make it under the span.
Onlookers hunched under umbrellas in a steady midday drizzle, holding their collective breath as the ship — with four of the world’s largest and newest ship-to-shore container cranes rising from its deck like a kid’s oversized erector set — glided under the bridge with less than 10 feet to spare.
That obstacle cleared, river pilots George Henry Jr., operating from the bow bridge, and Christopher Yarbrough in the stern bridge, brought the Teal up to berth at Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal.
It’s never easy maneuvering a vessel that’s more than 185 feet high and some 450 feet wide through the narrow Savannah River channel, but Yarbrough said the trip came off without a hitch.
“It was tight, but the weather cooperated — we never encountered the heavy rain and winds that came through earlier — and the ship handled very well,” he said.
The pilots initially took on ballast water, increasing the ship’s draft by about 3 feet, for an extra margin of safety going under the bridge.
Crescent Tugs’ docking pilot Tommy Parker was onboard, as was U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Joseph B. Loring, Captain of the Port, and Sylvester Formey, Chairman of the Savannah Pilotage Commission.
The addition of the new cranes brings the number of electric-powered container cranes at Garden City Terminal to 25, the most of any single terminal in the U.S.
“What you see coming up the river here is a $40 million investment in the future of our ports,” said GPA executive director Curtis Foltz. “Our vision is to have the best equipment, the best facilities, the best road and rail access to serve our customers.
“These new super post-Panamax cranes will further enhance our cargo-handling efficiency as the fourth-busiest container terminal in the nation,” he said.
“Combined with the largest single container terminal in North America and two Class I railroads on site, these cranes will make the customer experience even smoother.”
Willie Seymore, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1414, agreed.
“These new cranes are a real symbol of how our port is continuing to grow and how the good relationship between GPA and the ILA supports that progress,” he said.
“The future is bright. We have the best workforce and the best leadership with the best vision for this port. We are looking forward to larger ships and more cargo.”
The new cranes were designed by Konecranes of Finland and assembled in Nantong, China. They can reach across vessels 22 containers wide and lift cargo weighing up to 65 long tons to a height of 136 feet above the dock. Each crane weighs 1,388 tons and measures 433 feet wide and 185 feet tall.
“Like our other cranes, these machines will generate their own power for 18 minutes out of every hour of operation by capturing energy while lowering containers,” Foltz said. He credited Rich Cox, GPA’s general manager of engineering and facilities maintenance, with overseeing the design and construction of the new cranes.
“The high quality of these cranes is due, in large part, to Rich’s incredible attention to detail, mechanical expertise and commitment,” he said.
Of the GPA’s current fleet of cranes, nine are post-Panamax, accommodating the largest vessels capable of transiting the Panama Canal, while 16 are super post-Panamax, designed to work vessels too large to transit the canal. The cranes operate over a dock featuring 9,700 feet of contiguous berth space.
The arrival of the newest cranes fulfills an order the GPA placed with Konecranes in 2011. The crane purchase, along with the planned deepening of the Savannah Harbor, is in anticipation of a move in the global fleet to larger container ships, especially when an expanded Panama Canal opens in 2015.
“These improvements to our landside infrastructure will complement the planned harbor deepening to ensure Savannah’s premier status in moving U.S. exports to the global marketplace,” said GPA board chairman Robert Jepson.
BIG CRANES BY THE NUMBERS
200 feet: Crane’s reach, equivalent of 22 containers
65 long tons: Crane’s lift capacity
2,240: Pound in a long ton
185 feet: Crane’s height
136 feet: Crane’s above-deck lift height
$10 million: Cost of each crane