PhilaPort buys two more new super post-Panamax cranes

The purchase, which is the second for PhilaPort in the past year, brings the total number of new cranes purchased for the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in the past year to four.    PhilaPort, the Pennsylvania seaport formerly known as the Port of Philadelphia, has bought two super post-Panamax container gantry cranes for $23.5 million from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. (ZPMC) of Shanghai, China, the port confirmed Dec. 1.
   The purchase, which is the second by PhilaPort in the past year, brings the total number of new cranes purchased for the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal (PAMT) in the past year to four.
   The first two cranes are expected in March 2018, with the other two anticipated to arrive at PAMT 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 Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s $300 million port development plan, a public-private partnership for capital improvements to PAMT. Under the plan, terminal operator Greenwich Terminals has agreed to purchase one gantry crane, with PhilaPort would buy three others.
   “Each step in the development of PhilaPort is another important move in strengthening the economic success of the entire commonwealth,” Wolf said in a statement. “My administration is proud to partner with our port regions to invest in our infrastructure.”
   The new purchases come as PhilaPort is on track to reach a record in total containers handled in a single year.
   “We are busier than ever before, and we will certainly be well over 500,000 TEUs,” said Tom Holt, Jr., President of Astro Holdings, Inc., which operates PAMT for PhilaPort. “The new cranes can’t arrive soon enough because they will help us reach our goal of handling one million TEUs per year.”