Savannah to Switch to Electric-Powered Cranes

The Georgia Ports Authority will buy four new electric-powered rubber-tired gantry cranes and retrofit other RTGs in the Port of Savannah to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and maintenance costs.

The GPA board on Monday approved an initial investment of $1 million to buy the four new cranes from Konecranes, the Finnish company that is already constructing 20 RTGs for use at Savannah’s Garden City Terminal.

The four demonstration ERTGs will be powered through 480-volt bus bars that will be installed on the container yard. The ERTGs will operate at the rear of Container Berths 4 and 5. 


“We plan to retrofit the rest of our RTGs and make additional purchases that will bring our total number of electrified RTGs to 169 by 2022,” said GPA Executive Director Curtis Foltz.

Electric-powered RTGs are more reliable than diesel-powered versions with less downtime, said GPA Senior Director of Engineering Wilson Tillotson. He said fewer hours of diesel-powered operation will reduce maintenance costs.

The required power infrastructure will be installed by fall of this year, with the new ERTGs commissioned for service in October.


-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.