Cranes Arrive at Port of Mobile

Three cranes and a unique barge haul system arrived at Mobile yesterday on the Zhen Hua 25, a heavy-lift ship designed to carry fully assembled cranes and other breakbulk and project cargo components, after a 60-day journey from China.

The three post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes were manufactured by ZPMC in Shanghai. They will be used to transfer steel slabs to barges headed upriver to the $4 billion ThyssenKrupp steel mill now under construction in north Mobile County. The mill is located at a site on the Mobile River too shallow for deep-draft vessels. A pledge to build the $100 million steel terminal was key to persuading TK to locate in Alabama rather than on a rival site on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, said Alabama State Port Authority Executive Director and CEO Jimmy Lyons.

Each crane is, in its operating position, 200 feet high with a rail gauge of 120 feet. The cranes’ booms will have an outreach of 150 feet and a back reach of 165 feet. They will use magnets able to lift steel slabs weighing up to 36 metric tons. These magnets are the first such to be utilized in a ship-to-shore cargo handling operation in North America, according to the port.

The Zhen Hua also delivered unique bridge beam units that will be used to offload the cranes. Typically, marine terminal cranes are rolled off the vessel and placed on rails along the dock. However, the Pinto terminal’s design complicates this because it includes a barge slip behind the main deepwater dock where breakbulk steel will be discharged directly from ship to barge.

The Port Authority’s engineers, Shaw GBB LLC, and crane manufacturer ZPMC collaborated on the engineering and design of a bridge assembly, reinforced dock and temporary pile support system installed in the barge slip that will allow the cranes’ rear legs to travel across the ship dock and over the water in the barge slip to the land side rails. Discharging the cranes and other cargo is expected to take approximately eight days.

The barge slip will ultimately be equipped with three units that will independently or simultaneously control three barges during cargo loading operations. Today’s barge haul systems require barges be lashed or tethered during loading or unloading; and simultaneously move through the barge haul system. Pinto Terminal’s independent action will allow the cranes to load barges independently, creating a more efficient system of loading.