PhilaPort purchases two gantry cranes

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PhilaPort, Philadelphia, recently purchased two super-post Panamax container gantry cranes for $23.5 million from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited Shanghai, China.

The cranes were purchased for the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal.

The port is expected to reach more than 500,000 20-foot equivalent units this year. The cranes will help the terminal reach the goal of 1 million 20-foot equivalent units.

They also will allow the port to meet the expectations of its ocean carrier partners

Two other cranes also were purchased this year. The first two will arrive in March 2018 and the second pair will arrive in April 2019.

“The second set of cranes will mirror the two cranes arriving in the first quarter of 2018,” PhilaPort CEO Jeff Theobald said. “These new cranes will be the largest and most modern, capable of unloading containers from the largest container ships in the world.”

The purchases are part of the $300 million Port Development Plan by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf which established a public-private agreement for capital improvements needed at the port’s terminals, cranes, and wharfs.

Strengthening the port strengthens the state’s economy, Wolf said.

Astro Holdings operates the terminal for PhilaPort, which was known as the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority until May.